Records Appraisal Report:
Attorney General Desk Calendars/Appointment Books
Contents of this report
Agency Contact | Record Series Review
Internal links to series reviews
Desk calendars/appointment books
September 21, 2006, Tonia J. Wood, Appraisal Archivist
Agency Contact
This agency contact information was current at the time of the report but may have changed in the interim. Please call (512-463-5455) for current contact information of the agency's records manager or records liaison for these records.
Paula F. Harris
Office of the Attorney General
Manager, Reprographics & Records Management
PO Box 12548
Austin TX 78711-2548
Record Series Review
Series Title: Desk calendars/appointment booksObsolete record series? No
Replaced by:
Ongoing record series? Yes
Annual accumulation: about 1 cubic ft. for the calendars of positions included for archival review
Agency holdings:
Bulk of the Attorney General's Office calendars date 2003 to present. A few individuals have calendars dating as far back as 1996.
Description:
Calendars provide day-to-day information on how an individual fulfills his job responsibilities. Some calendars provide evidence of policymaking functions, provide an overview of high level official's activities, and/or list meetings, subjects, attendees, and speaking engagements.
Purpose:
To document the decision-making process of a state agency, particularly one without a governing board or commission.
Agency Program:
The Attorney General is the lawyer for the people of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to: defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas, represent the State in litigation, and approve public bond issues.
To fulfill these responsibilities, the Office of the Attorney General serves as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government, issues legal opinions when requested by the Governor, heads of state agencies and other officials and agencies as provided by Texas statutes, sits as an ex-officio member of state committees and commissions, and defends challenges to state laws and suits against both state agencies and individual employees of the State.
The Office of the Attorney General has taken on numerous other roles through the years. Texas statutes contain nearly 2000 references to the Attorney General. In addition to its constitutionally prescribed duties, the Office of the Attorney General files civil suits upon referral by other state agencies. In some circumstances, the Attorney General has original jurisdiction to prosecute violations of the law, but in most cases, criminal prosecutions by the Attorney General are initiated only upon the request of a local prosecutor.
Although the Attorney General is prohibited from offering legal advice or representing private individuals, he serves and protects the rights of all citizens of Texas through the activities of the various divisions of the agencies. Actions that benefit all citizens of this state include enforcement of health, safety and consumer regulations, educational outreach programs and protection of the rights of the elderly and disabled. The Attorney General is also charged with the collection of court-ordered child support and the administration of the Crime Victims' Compensation Fund.
Arrangement: Arrangement is by position, then chronological.
Access constraints: Calendars contain information that may be withheld under the Texas Public Information Act because of privacy, attorney-client privilege, and/or attorney-work product.
Use constraints: None.
Indexes or finding aids required for/or an aid to access?
No, though calendars often contain only staff initials when listing meeting participants. Organization charts that include names of persons holding positions or staff directories will be needed to help researchers determine who was present.
Gaps? Most calendars prior to 2003 were disposed of in accordance with the agency's retention schedule.
Problems: Some calendars are created electronically, but have been printed out. Staff must take care to insure all pages print.
Known related records in other agencies: None.
Previous destructions: Most calendars prior to 2003 were disposed of in accordance with the agency's retention schedule.
Publications based on records: None.
Series data from agency schedule:
Title: Desk calendars/Appointment books
Series item number: 1.1.013
Agency item number: 12
Archival code: none, but the latest RRS lists it as R
Retention: CE+1
Archival holdings: None.
Texas Documents Collection holdings: None.
Appraisal Decision:
I reviewed the Attorney General's September 1, 2005 organization chart to determine which positions should have calendars undergo archival review. I eliminated positions that seemed to handle routine, support service tasks or frontline, customer contact/relations [everything including and under the Deputy for Administration, everything below the Deputy Director for Child Support, plus the Public Information Coordinator, Communications Director, and Information Resource Manager]. After the State Archives received the calendars, an item-level appraisal was conducted to determine which calendars should be retained. Retention was determined by the way individuals maintained and used their calendars.
Calendars were selected for archival review for the following positions, archival value is listed along with reason:
| Position | Decision | Reason |
| Attorney General | Archival | Agency head, policy/direction flows from here |
| First Assistant Attorney General | Archival | Second in command, stands in for AG |
| Internal Audit | NOT archival | Routine |
| Director, Office of Special Investigations | Need to review when calendars have fulfilled retention | |
| Attorney Ombudsman and Director of Professional Development and Ethics (primarily because title includes ethics) | NOT archival | Not policy related |
| Deputy Attorney General for Families and Children | Archival | Issue is important for AG, policy level |
| Director and Deputy Director, Office of Family and Legal Policy [or Office of Family Initiatives] | Director's calendar has archival value. Deputy Director calendar is NOT archival. | Issue is important for AG, but Deputy Director's calendar is mostly task oriented |
| IV-D Director, Director and Deputy Director, Child Support | Only 1 month of Director's calendar, need more to determine if has archival value. Deputy Director calendar is NOT archival | |
| Deputy Attorney General and Associate Deputy for Litigation | Archival | Though meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG calendars, there's enough additional information and the position is high enough, that calendars should be retained (significant litigation is mentioned) |
| Administrative Law | NOT archival | Mostly tasks, policy meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG, or Deputy AG calendars |
| Antitrust and Civil Medicaid Fraud | NOT archival | Mostly tasks, lots redacted, handwritten (not as much info as computer-generated calendar), policy meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Bankruptcy & Collections | Not reviewed, probably NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Consumer Protection and Public Health | Not reviewed, probably NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Financial Litigation | NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| General Litigation | Archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars, but calendar includes lots of notations re: depositions, meetings for redistricting, Kickapoo, and other significant litigation |
| Law Enforcement Defense | NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Natural Resources | Not reviewed, probably NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Taxation | NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars; a few meetings re: Enron noted, but mostly concern deadlines for litigation |
| Tort Litigation | NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Transportation | NOT archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel | Need to review when calendars have fulfilled retention | |
| Special Assistant | NOT archival | Calendars document attendance at meetings/task forces or calls re: HIPAA, Indian gaming, border, terror, immigration, healthcare, tobacco, Lottery Commission, though don't list meeting participants or any significant information; can't tell from calendars if position has policy-making abilities, ***Special Assistant's files (administrative correspondence, plans and planning records, subject files, project files, etc.) should be flagged for archival review*** |
| Open Records | NOT Archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars ***open records letter rulings and open records decisions are documents created by this division that would have archival value*** |
| Opinion Committee | NOT Archival | Tasks, personal business, no policy; meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars ***opinions are documents created by this division that would have archival value*** |
| Public Finance | NOT Archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| General Counsel | NOT Archival | Meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG or Deputy AG calendars |
| Deputy Attorney General for Government and External Affairs | Archival | Division serves as the agency's liaison to federal, state and local government. It is responsible for the planning, development, implementation and monitoring of legislative and public policy initiatives, as directed by the Attorney General and Executive Management. Information in calendars about meetings with external organizations, including purpose. ***Deputy AG for Govt and External Affairs' files (administrative correspondence, plans and planning records, subject files, project files, etc.) should be flagged for archival review*** |
| Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice | Archival | Though meetings with top-level staff will be documented in AG and 1st Asst AG calendars, there's enough additional information and the position is high enough, that calendars should be retained (only had 14 months to look at) |
| Solicitor General | Archival | Handles appeals before state and federal appellate courts and coordinates the agency's participation in amicus briefs (if cases go this far, they're probably of significance); involved in Aggie bonfire issues, school finance, redistricting; prepares staff for oral arguments |
If a division maintains a central calendar instead of or in addition to individual calendars, that also needs to undergo archival review. If the calendars are in electronic format, and the State Archives has appraised them as archival, then the Attorney-General's Office is responsible for maintaining the calendars electronically. The Attorney General's Office can request permission from the State Archivist to print the calendars, send the paper copies to the State Archives, and then delete the electronic copy. The Office of the Attorney General should check to determine if all earlier calendars have been destroyed. If earlier calendars exist that are listed in the above chart as archival, those calendars should be transferred to the Texas State Archives. Calendars for former Attorneys General and First Assistant Attorneys General are especially significant. Archival calendars should be transferred on a yearly basis after they have fulfilled their retention period.