Records Management Manual [5.3] Finding Aids

Records Management Standards and Procedures
B.C. Ministry of Forests [GIF 1K]

Chapter 5 - Records Control

Section 5.3 - Finding Aids

Effective: September 15, 1997

Finding aids facilitate records retrieval by providing concise descriptions of the records. A variety of finding aids is available, including:

subject and keyword indices: lists as many ways as possible a person would look up a subject. For example, for B.C. Ministry of Forests, a person might look under "Forests" or "B.C." or "British Columbia." The index should direct them to the file from each of these potential reference points.
An example of an alphabetic keyword index can be found at the back of the ARCS Manual.
cross-reference listing: provides the user with a listing of other related files). For example, budgets could be cross-referenced with staffing and planning (i.e., staffing and planning are dependent on budgets).
An example of a cross-reference listing is the explanatory notes under the scope notes in the ARCS Manual, which directs the user to other related subjects.
Cross referencing is also used when a document contains a number of different subjects. The document would need to be classified to the appropriate files and the numbers noted on the top of the page.

Other examples of cross referencing are:

accession listing - application and accession numbers are cross referenced with box contents
case file and organizational unit codes
automated retrieval systems - provides quick searching on all fields of classification systems; gives the user a selection of possible classifications

No applicable references.

Information Management Group, B.C. Ministry of Forests

Comments to: RMHELP
This page last updated: November 18, 1997.
URL: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/manuals/recman/rm5-3.htm