These are records created for or by the Department of Education as a result of technical and scientific research and development activities in order to develop new concepts, techniques, equipment, and materials, or modify those in existance. The records relate to such phases of research and development as the establishment of requirements and preliminary characteristics, experimentation, dersign engineering, modification, testing, and acceptance. They accumulate at various organizational levels, such as offices responsible for program direction, laboratories, etc. Any record created prior to January 1, 1921, must be offered to the National Archives and Record Service before applying these disposition schedules. Scientific data accumulating during the conduct of a specific project are generally recorded in laboratory notebooks, and later summarized in technical reports. While the technical reports will normally show the progressive and final results of the research effort, they do not always show how these were results achieved, or when a theory, device, or process was first conceived or reduced to practice. The laboratory notebooks and other subsidiary scientific papers record the methods and procedures used daily by the scientist in research performance, and posses potentiasl reference value for future scientific research, as well as for the establishment of patent and invention rights. When work on a major research and development project or system is assigned to various organizational elements within the Department, these work assignments may be designated as "subp̲rojects", "tasks", or "phases".They are generally identified with the major project or system through the Department's project coding orclassification system. The term "project" as used in this schedule includes any related sub-projects, tasks, or phases. It is desirable that these related records be consolidated into a single project file prior to transfer to a Federal records center. However, on projects of long duration, where volume or other factors preclude the retentionof records until completion of the entire project, records relating to individual sub-projects, tasks, or phases may be transferred to Federal records centers in the same manner as project case files defined under Item 3 of this schedule.
