UC Santa Barbara Policy 7050
Policies
Issuing Unit: Administrative Services Date: February 1, 1986
UNIVERSITY'S RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
I. REFERENCES:
A. University of California Business and Finance Bulletin, RM-l,
University Records Management Program.
B. University of California Business and Finance Bulletin, RM-2,
Records Disposition Program and Procedures.
C. University of California Business and Finance Bulletin, RM-3,
Forms Management Program.
D. University of California Business and Finance Bulletin, RM-4,
Vital Records Protection.
E. University of California Business and Finance Bulletin, RM-S,
Microfilm Guidance.
II. POLICY:
A. Definition:
For the purposes of the University, records may be defined as
"paper, maps, exhibits, magnetic or paper tapes, photographic
films and prints, and other documents produced, received, owned
or used by an office, regardless of physical form or
characteristics." Some of the items which are non-record
material are: miscellaneous notices or advertisements of meet
ings, etc., not pertinent to departmental business; shorthand
notes, including stenographic notebooks and stenotype tapes,
and dictating media, which have been transcribed; envelopes and
routing slips which should be removed from material before
filing; requests for printed material after the requests have
been filled; and informal notes, worksheets and rough drafts of
letters, memoranda, or reports that do not represent basic
steps in the preparation of documents.
B. Ownership of Administrative Records:
With respect to (administrative records of) all of its officers
and employees, including members of the faculty, whose regular
or occasional performance of administrative duties puts them in
possession of files, records or documents pertaining to such
duties, such files, records, or documents, including but not
limited to correspondence, reports, writing and other papers,
records, tapes, maps, photographic films and prints, magnetic
and punched cards, discs and drams, are the property of The
Regents of the University of California and, as such, may not
be permanently removed from the University nor destroyed except
in accordance with disposition schedules established by the
University Records Management Committee.
C. Records Management Program:
1. Purpose:
The University's Records Management program has four basic
objectives:
To save space by removing from offices records not
required for daily operations or frequent references; by
removing from storage areas records that no longer have
significant value; and by maintaining a regular,
controlled flow of records from offices to storage to
destruction.
To save money by avoiding the purchase of equipment and
supplies to file unneeded records; by providing
inexpensive storage facilities for less active records;
and by releasing surplus filing equipment for re-use.
To save time in locating records by removing inactive
material from office files; by installing a system whereby
the office knows records it has and where they are kept;
and by providing an orderly method of storing inactive
records.
To protect the University and its components by ensuring
that all legal, historical, fiscal and administrative
requirements are satisfied before records are destroyed.
2. Responsibility:
Responsibility for the Records Management Program resides
with a Systemwide Records Managements Committee that
reports directly to the President. The committee members
include one Records Coordinator from each campus.
3. Records Disposition:
Records disposition and/or retention is one important
element of the University's total Records Management
Program. The Records Disposition Schedules Manual contains
retention periods for most of the records in normal usage
(the Manual is included in the UCSB Policies Manual,
following the pink tab, in the last volume).
For those records not having an established retention
period, a Form RM-2, Request for Establishment of
Disposition Schedule (Attachment A) should be sent to the
Campus Records Coordinator, in charge of the Chancellor's
Office.
4. Vital records:
One part of the total records program is the
identification and protection of vital records. A record
is vital when the re-establishment of an authentic
replacement of a lost or unavailable record would be
impossible or prohibitively difficult and, thus, abridge,
jeopardize, or otherwise affect a significant right of an
individual, a significant right or asset of the
University, or the performance of an essential function of
the University so adversely that extraordinary precautions
are required to preserve and protect effectively that
record from both normal and unusual hazards, present and
potential. See UCSB Policy 7060.
5. Archives:
The University Records Disposition Schedule lists certain
records that should be forwarded to the UCSB Archivist, in
the Library Department of Special Collections. These
records are of particular historical significance to the
University. See UCSB Policy 7055.
III. ATTACHMENT:
A. Request for Establishment of Disposition Schedule, Form RM-2.
Please direct questions about these policies to Meta.Clow@vcadmin.ucsb.edu. For questions or comments regarding the format of the above information, please contact webcontact@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu.
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Last Modified By: EBH, 7/09/98