The Department of Records and Information Services was made a Charter agency in 1977. Section 3003 of the Charter designates the Commissioner as the chief archivist of the City, and as the chief reference and research librarian and public records officer for the Mayor, Borough Presidents, and the Council. The Charter consolidated responsibility for the organization and retrieval of records, reports and archival documents produced by past and present City government offices. The Municipal Archives appraises, accessions, classifies, arranges and makes available for research irreplaceable historical records of New York City government. The Municipal Records Management Division ensures that records at all City agencies are retained for designated periods of time and disposed of properly.
DORIS develops uniform standards and procedures to assist City agencies in managing their records. The Municipal Library provides information drawn from its collections of government publications and is the depository for all official reports and studies published electronically by New York City departments, commissions and divisions.