Hide It in Plain Sight - File Essential Documents and Find Them at a Moment's Notice

Summary of Article's First 150 Words

Total word count: 1858

"Now, where is the insurance policy and automobile club card for the van?"

"Are the insurance policies filed under 'Building' or 'Vehicles' . . . or both?"

"I know the folder with the rental agreement must be here someplace."

"The warranty and service agreement should be under 'TV/VCR,' but they're not here."


If these laments sound familiar, you may want to examine your "file style" and give serious consideration to putting your center's essential documents in systematic order once and for all. Everyone needs a simple, consis-tent, workable filing system, and busy people absolutely require one to remain efficient and effective (Hemphill, 1992; Ranck, 1995). Child care program directors especially need a flexible but structured means of filing and retrieving documents: the well-being, if not the lives, of children and staff may rest on pulling exactly the right file folder from the drawer when it's needed.

A wide range of details is involved in filing ...