Bearing in mind:
The recommendation of the
Inspector General that a consistent policy be adopted to govern the removal and disposal
of duplicate OAS publications;
That it is essential that
the General Secretariat establish a clear, specific procedure for cases in which there is
a need to remove or dispose of duplicate publications in the interest of better
management; and
That the Columbus Library
is the only part of the General Secretariat charged with maintaining the historic and
administrative archives of the OAS, the institutional memory of the inter-American system,
and that OAS publications are an integral part of that institutional record,
I. Decision
The Secretary General has
decided that the following provisions shall be enacted:
A. PROCEDURE FOR THE REMOVAL
AND DISPOSAL OF DUPLICATE PUBLICATIONS
1. Definition of the term
"publication"
a. For the purposes of
this Administrative Memorandum, the term "publication" shall be understood to
mean any document prepared, printed, or produced for distribution within or outside the
Organization, including but not limited to books, magazines, annual reports, letters,
manuals, pamphlets, posters, drawings, maps, plates, photographs, audiovisual materials,
and audio recordings.
b. This Administrative Memorandum does not
apply to original works of art held by the Art Museum of the Americas.
2. Procedure
a. The Department of
Material Resources (DMR) shall proceed to remove the documents specified in the preceding
section when three years have elapsed since their publication and they have been placed in
General Secretariat storage areas or outside the areas expressly assigned by the DMR to
each section of the General Secretariat, including hallways, garages, terraces, and other
common areas.
b. Before proceeding to
remove any publication, the DMR shall use Form No. 129 Rev., "OAS Records Disposition
Authorization" (attached hereto), to notify both the area or areas that issued the
publication and the Columbus Library. In the case of the Columbus Library, the DMR shall
send five copies of the publication to be removed along with Form No. 129 Rev.
c. No later than 15 working
days after receiving Form No. 129 Rev., the area or areas that issued the publication and
the Columbus Library shall complete Form No. 129 Rev., indicating their agreement or
disagreement with the proposal to remove the publication, and shall send it, duly signed,
to the DMR. Should the DMR receive no written reply from the area or areas or from the
Columbus Library within that period, it shall proceed to remove the publication
immediately.
d. If, within the time
period established in the preceding paragraph, the area or areas involved and/or the
Columbus Library express disagreement with the proposal to remove the publication, they
shall have 30 additional working days to sell or donate the publication or relocate it to
a space they themselves have rented with their own funds. Once that period has elapsed,
the DMR shall proceed to remove any remaining copies of the publication without prior
notice.
II. Derogation
This Administrative
Memorandum supersedes any contrary provision, regulation, or practice of the General
Secretariat.
III. Entry into Force
This Administrative
Memorandum shall enter into force on the date of its signature.
James R. Harding
Assistant Secretary for Management
Date: July 1, 1998
Original: Spanish
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