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Terminology 
Terminology that may be unfamiliar to some users is explained in Appendix B – Glossary. 

Numbering System 
The Model Municipal Records Retention Schedule is organized in 17 individual schedules that group related records.  Each schedule is assigned a reference number, and an item identification number is assigned to each records title listed (i.e. 1.10 means Schedule 1, Item 10).  The schedule and item identification numbers are listed with the individual records titles in the index -- the key to locating records titles in the schedules. 

Record Titles and Description
Because the records titles used may not reflect the exact records titles used by some municipalities, the retention schedule provides a short paragraph that gives descriptive information regarding the use and typical contents of each records series and sub-series. 

Retention Periods
Retention periods are based on legal requirements for those records governed by such legal requirements and/or on common usage and industry standards for retention of municipal records to meet typical administrative, operational or reference requirements.  The retention time period indicates the minimum length of time that the record copy should be retained by the municipality before disposal can take place.  A retention period is always specified for the record copy and may also be specified in some cases for duplicate copies for records that are widely distributed throughout an organization.  If no retention period is specified for duplicate copies of a particular type of record, the municipality may dispose of these duplicates in accordance with the following guidelines:

The retention period specified in these schedules applies to the information contained within the record, regardless of the physical format of the record (paper, microfilm, computer disk or tape, optical disk, etc.).

 Guidelines for identification and handling of some non-records are discussed in Appendix A – Non-Records.