It is a good idea to ask users to sign the slips issued with archives when they have finished with them. There are two main reasons for this:

1) Signing acts as a check to let Murray and I know that the user has finished with the item and that it can be returned to the stacks.

2)In the case of sensitive materials signing also acts as a ‘sign out’ mechanism that indicates that the user has officially viewed the material. This kind of thing is particulary important with the likes of politican’s papers which may contain official secrets or other confidential information, so it is particularly important that these slips are properly signed . The cabinet office is getting increasingly sensitive about this kind of thing and we are responsible to them for the management of many of these papers.

As of this year I keep all the slips in my office, to act as an official record.

Just an initial will do.