Youngstown State University Records Management Mission

In compliance with Section 149.33 of the Ohio Revised Code, Youngstown State University, by the authority of its Board of Trustees, has established a records management program under the jurisdiction of the President’s Office and University Archives & Special Collections for the purpose of insuring proper scheduling, storage and disposal of university records. Records Retention for Public Colleges and Universities in Ohio: A Manual (Inter-University Council of Ohio, 2000) will be used as the basis for Youngstown State University’s records management program. This program is designed to reduce the number of non-current records occupying expensive office space, eliminate unnecessary duplication of records between offices, offer a systematic method of records destruction and create an awareness of documents with a permanent archival value. This blog was created to provide a forum for questions and feedback on our records program. To use this blog effectively, first click and read Records Management: Getting Started, then the complete mission and policy statement. For further information, please contact the University Archives.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Records Management Training

Records, who is responsible?

The responsibility of records management falls on all persons within any organization. These responsibilities include maintaining properly ordered files, which can be called upon to be produced as part of their day to day job duties. Each department head, who is responsible for all employees within their jurisdiction, must insure that records are properly organized and that they meet their responsibilities to those records. Specific duties and responsibilities include:

1. Determining what records are produced and housed in their respective departments.

2. Determining if their records are permanent or non-permanent using the records retention schedule.

3. Identifying vital records and establishing procedures for their protection.

4. Destroying records in accordance with the published disposition schedules.

5. Arranging with the University Archivist transfer of permanent historical records.

Understanding Records Retention Abbreviations

ACT: active. The period while a matter is active.

ACY: ACT+CY. The period of time starting after the matter is no longer active and after the end of the current calender year.

CY: current year. A period of time starting after the end of the current calender year-December 31.

D: day

IND: indefinite. A long period of time that cannot be determined in advance.

M: months.

SUP: superseded. Retain records until they are replaced by more current versions.

Source: Donald S. Skupsky., Records Retention Procedures: Your Guide to Determine How Long to Keep Your Records and How to safely Destroy Them! (Englewood, Colorado: Information Requirements Clearinghouse, 1994).

Understanding Records Retention Schedule Groups

ACC - Accounting

ADM- Administrative

EDU- Education

FIN- Financial

LEG- Legal

PER- Personnel

REF- Reference

Source: Donald S. Skupsky., Records Retention Procedures: Your Guide to Determine How Long to Keep Your Records and How to safely Destroy Them! (Englewood, Colorado: Information Requirements Clearinghouse, 1994).

Records Management Cheat Sheet

Or what to do when you don't know where to start?

1. What records does your office create (by file folder)?

2. What records do the employees in your department have?

3. List records and then match them to the records retention series.

4. If a file folder has both official and non-official records, use official records for deciding on retention (see: official and non-official records for the distinction between them). If there are duplicates of official records, use the same retention as the non-duplicate official record.

5. If the file folder has multiple documents with differing retention periods, use the documents with the longest retention.

6. Write the retention on the file folder and the date of destruction or transfer. Do this for each folder (unless you know a complete group of file folders having all the same dates and belonging to the same series).

7. When the date of destruction or transfer arrives, fill out the appropriate form and send documents to be destroyed or to the archives.

8. Get further help from University Archivist.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Glossary

For a comprehensive list of archival terms, please go to:
Archivist's Glossary


ACCESSION
The process of "accessioning" a record group into the University Archives involves the transfer of
the legal title and the physical transfer of materials. The legal title is assigned in the Transfer
Agreement form. Once the records arrive at the Bentley Library, a member of the staff will
document the acquisition in the donor file and in the accessions database.

ACID-FREE
The chemical characteristic of having a pH of 7.0 or greater. The Archives uses acid- free paper,
file folders, and boxes for preservation of permanent records. See also ARCHIVES BOX.

ACTIVE RECORDS
Generally, records move through phases of activity. Active records are records currently in use or
that are considered open. It is best practice to transfer permanent historical records to the
University Archives when the records are viewed as inactive. Non-permanent inactive records
should be sent to Records Center or kept in office until destruction.

ADMINISTRATIVE VALUE
The usefulness of records to the office of origin for carrying out its day-to-day activities.

APPRAISAL
Appraisal is the process of determining the value of records--it is making a decision on what
needs to be kept for administrative, legal, historical, and fiscal use. While appraisal is one of the
most discussed principles in archival science, office personnel also make numerous appraisal
decisions. The University Archives is interested in maintaining records that contain significant
information about the activities, policy, and goals of a unit. Significant records would also include
related documents that reflect the actions, motives, and underlying causes leading to changes
within a unit or that illuminate an important aspect of the university history or development of a
specific academic discipline.

ARCHIVES
(1) The non-current records of an organization or institution preserved because of their continuing
value. (2) The agency responsible for selecting, preserving, and making available records
determined to have permanent or continuing value. (3) The building or part of a building where
archival materials are located.

ARCHIVES BOX
A cardboard storage container made from acid-free materials intended to house archival
materials.

ARRANGEMENT
Arrangement refers the work process our staff undertakes once records are transferred and
accessioned into the University Archives. The process is based on accepted archival principles,
particularly the concepts of provenance and original order. The processes associated with
arrangement usually include packing, foldering, labeling, and shelving.

BOX INVENTORY
A listing of the contents of all the boxes that comprise a collection, folder by folder; this listing may
also include indications of which materials have been moved to oversize boxes or map drawers
or transferred to other storage areas such as the photograph, memorabilia, or audio-visual
collection. See also CONTAINER LIST.

BULK DATES
Dates of those documents that constitute the largest part of a collection, record group, subgroup,
or series. Bulk dates are used to inform researchers of the chronological or period strength of
archival materials, particularly when inclusive dates are misleading.

COLLECTION
An artificial accumulation of materials devoted to a single theme, person, event, or type of
document acquired from a variety of sources. A general term used to describe groupings of
archival or manuscripts materials.

CONFIDENTIAL RECORD
Student files; personnel files; intellectual property; or any records that contain Social Security
Numbers, Student ID numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.

CONTAINER LIST
A listing of the contents of all the boxes that comprise a collection, folder by folder; this listing may
also include indications of which materials have been moved to oversize boxes or map drawers
or transferred to other storage areas such as the photograph, memorabilia, or audio-visual
collection. See also BOX INVENTORY.

CONTEXT
Context refers to the organizational, functional, and operational circumstances in which
documents are created and/or received and used. Context plays an important role in informing
researchers about events and actions that may have occurred just a few years or many years
ago. SEE APPRAISAL

CORRESPONDENCE
Letters (administrative or personal), memoranda, postal cards, and electronic mail
communications. Over the past fifteen years, however, electronic mail has become a primary
means of communication. As in the paper-based environment, a system for the management of
important communications needs to be established in the digital environment. See the procedures
manual for email best practices.

CREATOR
Person, office or other entity that generates records.

CREATING OFFICE
See CREATOR.

CUBIC FEET
A standard measure of the quantity of archival materials on the basis of the volume of space
occupied. For example, a typical 12 x 12 x 12 archives box occupies 1 cubic foot (cu. ft.).

DEED OF GIFT
A signed, written instrument containing a voluntary transfer of title to real or personal property
without a monetary consideration. Deeds of gift to archives and manuscript repositories frequently
take the form of a contract establishing conditions governing the transfer of title to documents and
specifying any restrictions on access or use.

DESTROY
Destruction through recycling or placement in garbage recepticles.

DESTROY CONFIDENTIAL
Destruction via shredding.

DIGITAL RECORDS
Digital records are all records, regardless of their digital format, prepared, owned, used, in the
possession of, or retained by university administrators, faculty acting in administrative capacities,
and staff of university units in the performance of an official function.

DISPOSAL
A disposal process that results in the obliteration of records.

DISPOSITION
Materials' final destruction or transfer to an archive as determined by their appraisal.

DOCUMENT
A written paper, recording, photograph, computer file, or other item that bears the original, official,
or legal form of something and can be used to furnish evidence or information. Letters to an
individual, business reports, architectural drawings, photographs, videos, and computer files are
all examples of documents.

ELECTRONIC MAIL (E-MAIL)
Any memo, letter, note, report, or communication between individuals and groups that is stored
and/or transmitted in a format that requires an electronic device to capture and access.

ENCRYPTION
The process of rendering plaintext unintelligible by converting it to ciphertext that can be read
only by those with the knowledge to decode the plaintext from the ciphertext.

EVIDENTIAL VALUE
The usefulness of records as the primary or legal evidence of an organization's authority,
functions, operations, transactions, and basic decisions and procedures.

FILE FOLDER
Filing unit, preferably made from acid-free materials; titles of file folders are listed in the box
inventory in a FINDING AID.

FINDING AID
General term used to describe the various research tools the Archives creates to provide
information about its holdings; types of finding aids prepared by the department include BOX
INVENTORIES (or CONTAINER LISTS) and COLLECTION GUIDES.

FISCAL VALUE
The usefulness of records for information about the financial transactions and obligations of an
organization.

HISTORICAL VALUE
The usefulness of records for historical research concerning an organization's functions and
development, or for information about persons, places, or events.

IN-ACTIVE RECORDS
Non-permanent or permanent records used rarely. See ACTIVE RECORDS for disposition
recommendations.

INCLUSIVE DATE
The dates of the oldest and most recent items in a collection.

INFORMATIONAL VALUE
Factual data about the persons, events, problems, and conditions of the record creator, and
which may be useful for historical research or other studies.

INTELLECTUAL CONTROL
A series of measures, such as box and folder inventories, card catalog entries, and indexes that
enable users of records to find the information they need.

LEGAL VALUE
The usefulness of records to contain evidence of legally enforceable rights or obligations of the
government or private persons.

LIFE CYCLE
The theory that the paperwork of an institution goes through distinct phases: records are created,
used for some purpose, stored or filed for future reference, evaluated, and eventually disposed of
or transferred to an archives for permanent retention.

MIGRATION
The process of moving data from one information system or storage medium to another to ensure
continued access to the information as the system or medium becomes obsolete or degrades
over time.

OFFICE OF ORIGIN
The office in which a given record or record series was originally created or accumulated. See
CREATOR

OFFICIAL RECORD
An official record is a record that in law is legally recognized and judicially enforceable as
evidence of an act or event.

ORIGINAL ORDER
The archival principle of not intermingling records from different creating bodies.

PERSONAL PAPERS
Personal papers refers to papers created or accumulated by an individual, belonging to him or
her, rather than papers created by a university unit. Papers of members of the university faculty
are considered personal papers. Further information on faculty papers is available within the
forms section of the website.

PRELIMINARY INVENTORY
A type of finding aid that is created upon accession of new materials to an archive or manuscript
repository. The preliminary inventory usually contains a box or folder level listing, but usually does
not attempt to arrange items in a collection into series or other groupings. See also CONTAINER
LIST.

PROCESSING
The activities of accessioning, arranging, describing, and properly storing archival materials.

PROVENANCE
The origin of records or original source of the materials in a collection. The section in a finding aid
that describes how the University Archives acquired the collection in question

PUBLIC RECORD
Section 149.011 of the Ohio Revised Code, defines “Records” as including any document,
device, or item, regardless of physical form or characteristic, including an electronic record as
defined in section 1306.01 of the Revised Code, created or received by or coming under the
jurisdiction of any public office of the state or its political subdivisions, which serves to document
the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the
office.

RECORDS CENTER
A records storage facility established to provide storage of inactive, permanent and non-
permanent records before final disposition.

RECORD GROUP
A body of organizationally related records established on the basis of PROVENANCE with
particular regard for the administrative history of the record-creating institution or organization.
For example, University Archives record groups include the Board of Trustees and the Miller
College of Business. For a complete listing of processed record groups in the University Archives,
please click here.

RECORD-KEEPING SYSTEM
Coordinated policies and procedures that enable records to be collected, organized, and
categorized to facilitate their management, including preservation3, retrieval, use, and disposition.

RECORDS MANAGEMENT
Or RM, is the practice of identifying, classifying, archiving, preserving, and destroying records.
The ISO 15489: 2001 standard defines it as "The field of management responsible for the
efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of
records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about
business activities and transactions in the form of records".

RECORD SUB-GROUPS
Smaller (than record groups) bodies of organizationally related records placed within a record
group to correspond to the subordinate administrative units that collectively form the record
group.

RECORDS RETENTION/DISPOSITION SCHEDULE
The RRDS is the form used to secure approval for the disposition of all public records. It
describes the life cycle of records and their disposition after a retention period has ended.

RESEARCH VALUE
The usefulness of records for research by the government, business, private organizations,
individuals, and scholars. See also HISTORICAL VALUE.

RESOURCE GUIDE
List of materials in an archive or manuscript repository that relate to a certain subject or theme.
The Archives and Special Collections Research Center has created several resource guides;
click here to view the complete list.

RETENTION
The process of holding documents for use.

RETENTION PERIOD
The maximum and minimum lengths of time that a record must be kept by law or policy.

RETENTION SCHEDULE
The timetable and description of a records series' lifecycle, including instructions for disposition.
For University Records, the retention schedule takes the form of the Records
Retention/Disposition Schedule (RRDS).

SCHEDULING
The process of analyzing and appraising the value of a given set of records, and then preparing a
retention schedule showing the disposition of the records.

SERIES
A grouping of file units or documents arranged in accordance with a unified filing system or
maintained by the records creator as a unit because of some relationship arising out of their
creation, receipt, or use. For example, correspondence or meeting minutes are typical series
designations within an archival/manuscript COLLECTION or RECORD GROUP.

TRANSFER
The movement of records from one custodian to another. Usually moving records from active or
semi-active office files to off-site storage or to the University Archives.

UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
The University Archives is the repository for a broad range of materials, including official office
records, printed publications, photographs, and memorabilia, documenting the history and
present activities of a university.

Records Management Forms

Records Transfer Form

Records Inventory Form

Records Disposal Form