A holdings maintenance program is responsive to the institutional reality that existing records may be housed inadequately or inappropriately; that they are found in an assortment of containers, wrappers, envelopes, and folders; that they are bundled, tie

A holdings maintenance program is responsive to the institutional reality that existing records may be housed inadequately or inappropriately; that they are found in an assortment of containers, wrappers, envelopes, and folders; that they are bundled, tied, pinned, and fastened together; that too many may be wedged in one place or too few allowed to slump and curl; that their format and size requirements may not be addressed; that the mechanics of good housing may not have been followed; and that enclosures used to provide additional protection may have caused damage. Most often, incoming records are housed in modern office-quality folders and boxes that meet short-term rather than long-term retention requirements.

¶ With these points in mind, a holdings maintenance program has three major procedural objectives:
to place documents into a good primary housing (a container that fully encloses them, supports them, and protects them from the environment);
within the container, to group documents into folders for additional protection and support and to enhance safe access;
to place documents that are severely damaged or vulnerable into individual enclosures.

¶ Also defined in a holdings maintenance program are the four functional, design, and compositional features of the housing supplies – the containers, folders, and sleeves – used during the course of work:
housings and enclosures must perform their assigned function;
they must be as simple and straightforward to use as possible to facilitate easy and safe access to the documents;
they must not contain any structural features that will physically damage or jeopardize the documents;
they must be made of stable materials that will not contribute to the deterioration of the documents in the present or the future.