ARMA Filing Rules

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ARMA Filing Rules
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Why have rules?
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• The real test of an efficient records storage
  system is being able to find records quickly once
  they have been stored.

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Classifying records

• In order to organize, we must decide how to
  classify records.

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Classifying Records

• Use
• Transaction
• Reference
• Place of Use
• Internal
• External

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Classifying Records, cont.

• Value
• Vital (irreplaceable like titles)
• Important (costly to replace personnel records)
• Useful (replaceable bank statements)
• Nonessential (disposable phone messages)

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• 1. Why is consistency in filing so important?

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Indexing

• Determining the filing segment (or name) by which
  the record will be stored and retrieved.
• The name most likely to be used in requesting the
  record is the one to be used for storage.

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Coding

• Marking the record to indicate the field (name,
  number, subject) by which it is to be stored.
• / between each word
• Underline the key unit
• Number remaining units

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• 2. Why are indexing rules important when filing
  names alphabetically?

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Rule 1

• Personal names
• Surname (last name)
• Given name (first name)
• Middle name or initial
• Business names
• As written (on letterhead)
• Each word is a unit

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Remember

• Nothing comes before something.
• A blank space comes before a letter.
• Baker / William
• Bakersly / William

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Rule 2 Minor Words and Symbols in Business
Names

• Articles a, an, the
• Prepositions to, at, on, of, for
• Conjunctions and, but, or, nor
• Symbols , ,

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• Are separate indexing units
• Symbols indexed as if spelled out
• The as the first word is considered the last
  unit.

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Rule 3 Punctuation

• All punctuation marks are disregarded
• Names are indexed as written
• Doggydaycare.com is indexed as
• doggydaycarecom

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Rule 4 Single Letters and Abbreviations

• Initials in personal names are separate units
• Nicknames are indexed as written
• Business acronyms and abbreviations are indexed
  as written

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Rule 5

• A title before a name, a seniority suffix, or
  professional suffix after a name is the last
  indexing unit.
• Numbers are filed before alphabetic suffixes.
• Royal and religious titles followed by surname
  only are indexed as written.

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• Business names --- titles are indexed as written.

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Rule 6

• Prefixes Articles and Particles
• A, an, or the in another
• language used as part of a
• persons name
• De La Hoya
• DAgostino
• Le Fleur

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• Mac or Mc
• Von, Van, Von der, Van der
• O
• Saint, St., San, etc.
• Ten, Ter, Te
• All are combined with the name
• that follows to form a single unit.
• Punctuation and spaces are disregarded.

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Rule 7 Numbers in Business Names

• Numbers written as digits are filed before
  letters or words.
• Numbers spelled out are filed alphabetically.
• Digits are filed ascending.
• Arabic numbers before Roman numerals.
• Disregard ordinal suffixes (rd, nd, etc.)

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Rule 8 Organizations and Institutions

• Organizations and institutions are indexed and
  filed according to the names written on their
  letterheads.
• 1st National Bank 1/ National/ Bank
• St. Vincents Medical Center
• StVincents/ Medical/ Center

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Rule 9 Identical Names

• If two people or organizations have identical
  names, filing order is determined by address.
• City name
• State or province names
• Street names
• House or building numbers

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Rule 10 Government Names

• Indexed first by the name of the governmental
  unit.
• Indexed next by the distinctive departmental name

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• The first three
• indexing units of a
• U.S. federal agency
• are
• United
• States
• Government
• (always!)

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• State and local government the first indexing
  units are the names of the state, town, county,
  etc.
• Next, index the most distinctive
  departmental/unit name.

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• Foreign government agencies are indexed by the
  first distinctive English name, then by the rest
  of the official government name, then by
  divisions of the government.

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Cross-References

• Personal Names
• Unusual Names
• Kim David could also be David Kim
• Cross reference as
• David Kim
• See Kim David
• Hyphenated Surnames
• Mary Jones-Stamford needs a cross-reference as
• Stamford Mary Jones
• See JonesStamford, Mary

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• Alternate Names
• When an individual uses more than one name, such
  as a professional name (DBA, AKA)
• Mrs. Jennifer Reed in private life is Ms.
  Jennifer Jackson in professional life.
• Jackson Jennifer Ms.
• See also Reed Jennifer Mrs.

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• Names with multiple spellings
• Jason Snyder
• Snider
• See also Snyder, Shneider

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Business Names

• Compound Names
• Jasper, Nilson, and Fister, CPAs
• should be cross referenced under each name.
• Nilson, Fister and Jasper, CPAs
• See Jasper, Nilson, and Fister, CPAs

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• Acronyms and abbreviations
• NELA should be cross referenced
• Northwest Educational Loan Association
• See NELA

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Popular or Coined Names

• Spokane Falls Community College should be
  cross-referenced
• SFCC
• see Spokane Falls Community College