Initial Report
Last Modified: 12/07/2015


1.  Are you aware of the House Records Management Manual for Members?
#,Answer,Bar,Response,%,
1,Yes,0.56666666666667,17,57%,
2,No,0.43333333333333,13,43%,
,Total,,30,100%,

Statistic,Value,
Min Value,1,
Max Value,2,
Mean,1.43,
Variance,0.25,
Standard Deviation,0.50,
Total Responses,30,

2.  Please select the statement that best describes your use of the House Records Management Manual for Members.
#,Answer,Bar,Response,%,
1,I have read it and use it as a source of guidance in my work.,0.2,6,20%,
2,I have read it but do NOT use it as a source of guidance in my work.,0.033333333333333,1,3%,
3,I am familiar with it but have not read it.,0.33333333333333,10,33%,
4,I am NOT familiar with it.,0.43333333333333,13,43%,
,Total,,30,100%,

Statistic,Value,
Min Value,1,
Max Value,4,
Mean,3.00,
Variance,1.31,
Standard Deviation,1.14,
Total Responses,30,

"3.  Does your office have a written policy regarding
records management?"
#,Answer,Bar,Response,%,
1,Yes,0.13333333333333,4,13%,
2,No,0.86666666666667,26,87%,
,Total,,30,100%,

Statistic,Value,
Min Value,1,
Max Value,2,
Mean,1.87,
Variance,0.12,
Standard Deviation,0.35,
Total Responses,30,

"4.  For the purpose of this study, background / support material includes previous drafts, correspondence with constituents influential in the bill’s drafting process, Congressional Research Service reports and correspondence, Member and staff discussions or notes, outside agency or organization reports, or any other materials that were instrumental in developing the specific piece of legislation. This does NOT include the final version of the bill.Does your staff preserve any background / support material?"
#,Answer,Bar,Response,%,
1,Yes,0.9,27,90%,
2,No,0.1,3,10%,
,Total,,30,100%,

Statistic,Value,
Min Value,1,
Max Value,2,
Mean,1.10,
Variance,0.09,
Standard Deviation,0.31,
Total Responses,30,

"5.  If you answered yes, please select what types of materials you preserve."
#,Answer,Bar,Response,%,
1,Previous drafts of bills.,0,0,0%,
2,Correspondence with constituents influential in the bill's drafting process.,0,0,0%,
3,Congressional Research Service reports and correspondence.,0,0,0%,
4,Member and staff discussions or notes.,0.2962962962963,8,30%,
5,Outside agency or organization reports.,0.037037037037037,1,4%,
6,Other. (Please explain.),0.66666666666667,18,67%,
,Total,,27,100%,

Other. (Please explain.),
"Most of these materials, but not CRS reports or other reports. There is limited space in the office.",
I wanted to click multiple answers but couldn't on this question. Our office keeps notes and emails w/ CRS staff about the bill.,
We save some notes and correspondence. There are drafts of bills on the office computers but not printed.,
Most of these - though not too many reports. There just isn't room to keep those things.,
all of the above - it will not allow you to select more than one type of material,
"Many of the things on this list. However, I don't think our office has ever kept a CRS report. They are accessible online from the CRS website, making it pointless for us to store them.",
"We keep several on this list, esp notes w/ the Congressman. CRS stuff but only if its directly about our bill. Can't imagine keeping outside stuff.",
"Almost all of these items, but we don't keep anything that would be considered ""outside."" We keep all constituent mail, not just letters about particular bills.",
"I wish I could have chosen multiple answers. We keep most of these files, or at least some types of most of these kinds of of files.",
"All the things in this list, with maybe one exception in the reports from other agencies. Though we may have some of those, too, honestly. Legislative staff are instructed to keep everything important, no matter what it entails.",
All of the above with few exceptions.,
"Definitely previous drafts of bills, constituent mail, and discussions and notes. Sometimes with CRS emails from CRS staff but not reports. Never with other reports. ",
Almost everything listed.,
All except outside reports or CRS reports. That's a lot of paper and it takes up room.,
"We keep most of the things on this list. That said, I don't think we keep many (if any) reports of any kind because they can be downloaded again if needed later.",
Pretty much everything listed.,
"Most things on this list are saved, except that last one.",
It depends on the staffer and what he/she decides to save. Some of this may be electronically or in paper format. ,

Statistic,Value,
Min Value,4,
Max Value,6,
Mean,5.37,
Variance,0.86,
Standard Deviation,0.93,
Total Responses,27,

"6.  Does your office regularly remove inactive files, such as the background / support files for legislation? If so, where are these materials maintained?"
Text Response,
"When a staffer leaves, their emails are deleted when their accounts are removed from the office server.  Hard copies are usually handed on to the next person handling that issue.",
We do have a storage area within the building where we maintain files from previous Congresses. Files are moved in Jan. or Feb. of the new Congress.,
"After the end of each Congress, we move old files to storage elsewhere within the building but out of our office so there is space for the new session. ",
"Yes, usually they get disposed of",
I am uncertain what inactive files are unless that means something like stuff from years ago. We have to move out as much as we can that is old like that because our office cannot hold it. We lease space in our district for this too.,
I wonder if I'm doing my office a disservice by answering because this is not something we have really considered. We're a newer office and haven't thought much about what will happen when we run out of space.,
Yes. We move old items into storage every six months.,
"No, we maintain records on our shared drive ",
no,
We have a storage space separate from the office. Files are moved but we won't have any set timeframe for when this happens. Mostly it happens when the file cabinets are filled.,
Yes. Our office utilizes the storage space provided by House Admin.,
Regularly is a stretch but stuff gets moved out of the office when we don't need it anymore.,
"Our office has storage space at the records center in Maryland. We try to send some boxes annually, though it is a more complete ""spring cleaning"" after the end of each Congress.",
"We do. Our office uses the courtesy storage provided by the National Archives because it's unbelievable what can accumulate over time. House offices are very small spaces, and there is a lot of paper we legally and ethically have to save. Eventually, it gets overwhelming. There is no regular schedule, like every month or anything like that. Basically, the Congresswoman, legislative staff and I can't take the amount of clutter, and that's when it gets sent away.",
"We try to get rid of things in the office that aren't useful at the end of each Congress, and we use the courtesy storage provided by the National Archives.",
"Yes, we move files every few months - though it isn't a set number of months - to the storage the House has for Members. We do a bigger move at the end of the year.",
Yes. We are provided offsite space through the National Archives that we use to prevent our office from becoming an episode of Hoarders.,
"No, not regularly. As needed is better. The House gives us courtesy space for old stuff.",
"Probably, but determining an ""inactive file"" is hard with legislation because we may decide to introduce bills that don't move in one Congress later if the environment is more favorable or the issue is important to the Congressman. All offices get storage space through NARA, which we use. We send boxes ""periodically"" more so than ""regularly.""",
"Yes, there is space given to our office by House Admin that's offsite but I am unsure of the location. ",
"Yes. The Nat. Archives provides space for us somewhere not in the District (Maryland? Virginia?), so our office packs up and sends off boxes on occasion.",
"Yes, there is offsite storage provided to Congresspeople. We use special boxes and call for them to be picked up, then they are taken somewhere and stored. I believe NARA does this.",
"Yes, the National Archives has a storage space that we use.",
Our office uses the space provided to all Members as a courtesy. We move files as needed when we find time.,
We store files no longer needed in the office in the offsite storage space provided to all Congressmen.,
"Not yet, but that day is probably coming soon for us.",
Our office just did this a few months ago for the first time. NARA stores files offsite for us.,
We haven't needed to do this.,
"As a freshman office, we do not have a policy for removing or keeping --- just haven't gotten there.  One issue on Capitol HIll is that our email capacity is very limited, so old emails go to an archive system that makes them harder to reach.  And we receive messages routinely that our emails are at capacity, so are sort of forced to delete (or figure out a way to store, which takes longer).",
"We have boxes and boxes of old files up in our storage ""cage"" in Cannon. There's no great rhyme or reason to them though. ",

Statistic,Value,
Total Responses,30,