Monterey County Grand Jury • 2016-2017 • Agency Response
Response to: A Top to Bottom Review of Monterey County Elections Department

Preservation of Historical Documents of Monterey County*

Published: August 29, 2017 3 pages
Ver PDF original

Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F4

Findings and Recommendations 6 findings

F1
The archivists and historians employed by the different agencies are well educated in their field and take great care in their duties. Response: The City of Salinas agrees with this finding. Salinas Public Library staff members charged with maintaining historical documents have achieved Master's degrees in Library and Information Science and perform their duties responsibly.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
All Cities and agencies within Monterey County should catalog and index all historical documentation they maintain. Response: The City of Salinas has not yet implemented this recommendation but is currently assessing all historical documents within their collection. This task will be complete by the end of FY 17-18. By the end of FY 18-19, the process of cataloging and indexing documents is expected to be completed.
F2
Most agencies in Monterey County charged with the task to maintain and store historical records and artifacts do the best that they can with the facilities and funds they have available. Response: The City of Salinas agrees with this finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
This index once created should be shared between each city and all county historical agencies. Response: The City of Salinas has not yet implemented this recommendation but is currently assessing all historical documents within the collection. This task will be complete by the end of FY 17-18. By the end FY 18-19, the process of cataloging and indexing documents is expected to be completed and the index will be shared with all other agencies. The Honorable Mark E. Hood Re: City of Salinas's Response to Monterey County Civil Grand Jury August 29, 2017
F3
The documents stored and maintained in these repositories vary. The most modern and-up-to date methods are those maintained in a temperature and humidity controlled vault at the Monterey County Historical Society. Response: The City of Salinas agrees with this finding. As stated in the final report, the Salinas Public Library is currently studying more effective methods of storing and securing historical documents. The Honorable Mark E. Hood Re: City of Salinas's Response to Monterey County Civil Grand Jury August 29, 2017
No recommendations for this finding
F5
Historical documents and photos should be digitized and available to the public on- line, to lessen the amount of handling of documents. Response: The City of Salinas agrees with this finding. The Salinas Public Library is assessing methods of digitizing historical documents and will be seeking future grant funding toward this end.
No recommendations for this finding
F6
The historical documents and artifacts of Monterey County are valuable assets to the citizens of California, Monterey County and residents of the cities located within the county. As such, they should be protected to ensure proper storage, maintenance, and handling. Response: The City of Salinas agrees with this finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F7
Not all the locations that store and maintain historical documents are staffed by trained archivists. Response: The City of Salinas agrees with this finding. Salinas Public Library does not employ an archivist but does employ librarians who have basic archival training through their Master's degree coursework, as well as some limited archival work experience.
No recommendations for this finding

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.