# ![](media/image1.png){width="0.8444444444444444in" height="0.8444444444444444in"}National Archives and Records Administration

**[General Records Schedules Transmittal]{.smallcaps}**

**[No]{.smallcaps}. 15** September 14, 2005

TO: Heads of Federal Agencies

1\. [What does this document do?]{.underline} GRS Transmittal 15
provides revisions to General Records Schedule (GRS) 23, Item 7,
Transitory Records. NARA is revising this item in the GRS to explicitly
include very short-term temporary e-mail messages.

2\. [What records are covered by GRS 23, Item 7]{.underline}? Transitory
records are records of short-term (180 days or less) interest, including
in electronic form (e.g., e-mail messages), which have minimal or no
documentary or evidential value. Examples of transitory e-mail and other
records include, but are not limited to: (1) routine requests for
information or publications and copies of replies which require no
administrative action, no policy decision, and no special compilation or
research for reply; (2) originating office copies of letters of
transmittal that do not add any information to that contained in the
transmitted material, and receiving office copy if filed separately from
transmitted material; (3) quasi-official notices including memoranda and
other records that do not serve as the basis of official actions, such
as notices of holidays or charity and welfare fund appeals, bond
campaigns, and similar records; (4) records documenting routine
activities containing no substantive information, such as routine
notifications of meetings, scheduling of work-related trips and visits,
and other scheduling related activities; (5) suspense and tickler files
or "to-do" and task lists that serve as a reminder that an action is
required on a given date or that a reply to action is expected, and if
not received, should be traced on a given date.

3\. [Do I have to take any action to implement this GRS
change?]{.underline} Our regulations (36 CFR 1228.50(d)) require you to
disseminate GRS changes within 6 months of receipt. If your agency
already has a NARA-approved agency records disposition schedule for the
same series or system of records, you may apply either the disposition
instructions in these GRS or the disposition instructions previously
approved by NARA (see 36 CFR 1228.42(b)). The chosen authority must be
applied on an agency-wide basis. You must notify NARA within 90 days of
this GRS Transmittal No. 15 if you intend to continue using the agency
schedule. If you wish to apply a retention period that differs from that
specified in the GRS, you must submit a Standard Form (SF) 115, Request
for Records Disposition Authority, to us for approval.

4\. [How do I get copies of the new GRS 23?]{.underline} We are posting
a set of the GRS on our web site at
http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/records-schedules.html. GRS 23 is
available for downloading in HTML, MS Word, and PDF formats.

5\. [Whom do I contact for further information?]{.underline} Address
questions to the appraiser in our Life Cycle Management Division with
whom your agency normally works. A list of NARA workgroups is available
on our website at
http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/index.html.

Allen Weinstein

Archivist of the United States