Before we discuss techniques on locating information and maintaining these informational resources, we must define the terms that we will use. The resources we are most interested in and their definitions are as follows:

Directive A written statement that officially prescribes or establishes policy, methods, or procedures. It may require action or simply provide information for an activitys administration or operation. Directives have the effect of orders issued by the signing authority. Directives are issued as instructions, notices, and change transmittals. 

Instruction A directive containing authority or having a continuing reference value, or requiring continuing action. It remains in effect until superseded or cancelled by the originator or higher authority. In the Marine Corps, instructions are referred to as orders.

Notice A directive of a one-time or brief nature and contains a self-cancelling provision. Notices have the same force as instructions. Notices usually remain in effect less than 6 months, and, by definition, should not be effective for longer than 1 year. Notices are called bulletins in the Marine Corps.

Change Transmittal A written set of directions used to correct, update, or modify an existing instruction. Although not normally done, change transmittals may also be used to correct notices.

Files Collections of information, usually organized by subject, that may include informa-tion or material about the subject. Information may be original written material or reproduced copies, and may be in the form of notes, rough drafts, final typed, or published information. Files may also contain material such as art, drawings, photographs, magnetic media (tapes, floppy disk, hard disk, etc), light media (films, transparencies, laser disks, etc), samples, models, prototypes or evidence. Files may contain records.

Records As officially defined (82 Statute 1299 as amended [44 United States Code 3302-3314, Chapter 33]), include "all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business, and preserved, or appropriate for preservation, by that agency or its legitimate successor, as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government, or because of the informational value of the data in them. Library and museum material made or acquired or preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference, and stocks of publications and of processed documents, are not included."

Publication Any pamphlet, book, or collection of information, other than a directive, reproduced by mechanical methods by the government or a private agency for distribution within the government or to the public.

Charts Any maps, drawings, or diagrams depicting information. In this lesson, we will be referring to weather plotting charts (printed maps used to plot weather data), facsimile charts (facsimile reproductions of plotted and analyzed weather products), and recorder charts (machine plotted traces of record information).

Forms Preprinted paper documents that use blank lines or spaces for the entry of information.

Learning Objectives: Identify the manual that contains instructions on how to organize meteorological and oceano-graphic files and directives. Identify the major categories of the Standard Subject Identification Code System. Identify the directives that list effective instructions from the various Naval commands.

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