Campus Records Management Program
A campus records management program was established
for Albion College in 2002 with the approval of President Peter T.
Mitchell and his Administrative Council. The results of the initial
effort are available in an Outcomes
Report from that year.
Why Records Management?
Records management exists in order to fill the holes that exist in the
historical record of an institution, department, unit or group on campus
by ensuring information that should be preserved for future research and
development is being created and retained. It also addresses storage
space and retrieval time by determining what materials should be kept,
what should be thrown away, and what should be transferred to the
College Archives. Records management also ensures that records are being
handled in a manner that follows the rules and restrictions associated
with federal and state law.
These actions are
dictated through a document called a Records Schedule, the process of
which is described below.
STEP 1: Records Management Survey
The process of creating a records schedule begins with a
records management survey. To
date, the
following departments and units have completed these surveys:
President's Office
Gift & Estate Planning
Communications
Student Affairs
Instructional Technology
Financial Aid
Stockwell-Mudd Library
STEP 2: Records Schedule
After completing the survey, it is possible for the Archivist to
determine the best records management schedule for your department or
unit,
based on what it is you currently collect, what materials you need
access to in order for daily operations to occur, what it is you should
be collecting in order to adequately document those operations, and if there are any federal or state restrictions
that dictate the retention of records within your department, unit or
group.
Records schedules currently exist for:
President's Office
Gift & Estate Planning
Communications
Student Affairs
Stockwell-Mudd Library
Finance & Management
Non-Records
STEP 3:
Annual Review
By observing the retention policies in the records schedule for your
department, unit or group on an annual basis, you will be able to keep physical control over
the amount of records retained in your area and have better intellectual
control over the records that you keep. You will also ensure records
essential to documenting the history of your department, unit or
group are being transferred to the archives for proper storage and
future access.
Records
Destruction
Unless
shredding is specifically called for due to the private or sensitive
nature of an item, materials marked for destruction can be dealt
with however the office sees fit.
Records Transfer
Materials that are marked for
permanent archival storage will need to be inventoried, and the
Archivist contacted for their transfer.
There is a
transfer
form to be sent with the boxes to ensure that no
information or materials are lost in transit.
Facilities will not deliver
materials to Special Collections unless the Archivist has already
been contacted to approve the transfer.
Questions/Comments/Changes?
If you have any questions regarding records management in general;
the process of obtaining a records schedule for your department, unit or
group; or a current records management schedule, please do not hesitate
to contact the Archivist.
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