lecture presented at the Annual Convention of the Association of College and University Registrar and Liaison Officers (ACURLO) Region IV-A held at Sol y Viento , Makiling Heights, Pansol, Calamba City on September 13, 2012

1. Archiving the Registrar’s Records
by Fe Angela Verzosa
Annual Convention of the Association of College and University Registrars
and Liaison Officers (ACURLO) Region IV-A
September 13, 2012
Sol y Viento, Makiling Heights, Pansol, Laguna
What to expect…
• By the end of this
presentation, you will have
a better understanding of
the importance of
archiving Records
the basics of what to
keep, what to discard,
and when to do so, and…
how to handle the records
you keep, and records to
be created in the future.
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2. Topics
• Records Management
basics
• Records of enduring
value
• Records disposition/
retention
• Digitization
• Ideal storage conditions
and practical alternatives
The average worker spends 30% of time
searching for or recreating lost documents.
The average organization makes 19
copies of each document.
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3. On the
average,
each
employee
spends 3.5
hours per
week every
year
searching for
information
they can’t
find.
How many
people are in
your office?
Why do we need a system for
managing records?
• How many people in your office regularly make use of
records?
• Is your office clogged up with piles of paper?
• As a rule, can you find a document generated two months
ago in less than five minutes? What about a document
generated by a colleague?
• What would happen in the event of a fire or flood on your
premises? Does your office have an off-site storage of
important records?
• Does your office have a back-up system for computer-
based records?
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4. What is records management?
“ the efficient and systematic control of the
creation, receipt, distribution, use, maintenance,
storage, and disposal of records”
ISO 15489: 20 01 (International Standard for Records Management)
It is about knowing…
What we have (and what we don’t have)
Where it is
Who has it and who has access to it
What format we have it in
How long we need to keep it for
RM’s core mission is to provide appropriate
and permanent care for records of enduring
value in order to make them available for use.
acquisition/collecting
goals
arrangement/
description goals
service goals
preservation goals
management goals
personnel goals
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5. Goals of RM
• create only necessary records for
efficient and successful operation
of the office/institution.
• produce the records when needed.
• retain/preserve only records
needed for continued operation of
the office/ institution, and dispose
what is not needed.
What are the ingredients for an
effective records management?
• Files plan – which indicates what is where,
and how it is organized.
• Retention schedule – which indicates how
long to keep what records and what to do
with them once the retention period has
expired.
• Security access schedule - which indicates
who has access to what records and
conditions of access
• Staff involvement – well-trained, professional
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6. Components of a Records
Management Program
• policy and procedure development
• records inventory, appraisal, retention, and
disposition
• inactive files management and control
(records center)
• management of active files
• reprographics, micrographics, digitization
• vital records management
• training and outreach programs
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7. CRITERIA in creating records
• is it necessary?
• what constitutes adequate
documentation?
• is it desirable to have it in a
consistent format?
• what is its future life ?
• what is the best way to store
and retrieve it?
What Registrar’s records to keep?
• Transcripts
• examination papers [such as compre,
including major class tests, etc.]
• students’ coursework [including theses,
dissertations, project papers, etc.];
• minutes, marksheets and other data
from Panels and Boards of Examiners;
• attendance records and other material
relating to student’s engagement with
their studies;
• course syllabi, descriptions, etc.
• academic references;
• copies of handbooks and policy manuals
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8. Student records – any or all information
created or received by the university which document
• student's academic progress (i.e., courses taken,
grades received and formal notations made by the
institutional registrar regarding the student's
progress towards receipt of a degree, theses,
awards)
• class material in whatever form (e-learning, paper
etc.).
• administrative processes: medical, career
placements, disciplinary, financial, etc.
• student’s social life, including (but not limited to)
housing, student’s employment at university or
student organizations, volunteer jobs, athletics,
• governance, organizational activities, social life etc.
Source: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ica-suv/StudentRecordsGuidelines.pdf
Registrar’s records of students
• records of admission;
• registration & enrolment to courses/training
modules, etc;
• attendance and engagement;
• exam scripts and coursework answers;
• marks, progression and award outcomes;
• records of examiners’ meetings and of the
consideration of appeals; and
• references or other documents supplied to
confirm a student’s achievements.
Source:
http://www.hope.ac.uk/media/liverpoolhope/contentassets/documents/po
liciesandprocedures/media,1046,en.pdf
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9. Curriculum records
• relate to the course, not to the student.
• includes records of curriculum structures,
assessment patterns and weightings,
progression and award rules,
• calendars and examination timetables,
• regulations & published regulatory guidance
and
• any other information about the curriculum
Source:
http://www.hope.ac.uk/media/liverpoolhope/contentassets/documents/polic
iesandprocedures/media,1046,en.pdf
Personal data in student records
• in many cases student records have
sensitive data – health, religious and political affiliation,
sexual preferences, etc.
• also for reason of privacy, access to student
records for research purposes should be
allowed only after the student’s death.
• restriction to access should not, by itself,
make an argument for destruction of
records.
Source: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ica-suv/StudentRecordsGuidelines.pdf
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10. Archiving policy
“Each individual institution should decide whether
it wishes to retain core student records
permanently to support wider academic and
personal research. From a purely business point
of view the institution need only retain records
which allow it to provide a transcript showing
when a student attended the institution, what
courses they followed while they were there and
the grades achieved, the final degree awarded
and any academic distinctions achieved.”
Source:
http://www.hope.ac.uk/media/liverpoolhope/contentassets/documents/po
liciesandprocedures/media,1046,en.pdf
Archiving policy
• Records should be kept at least to fulfill
legal requirements and obligations and
operational needs of the university.
• After legal and operational needs to
keep student records have expired, the
university should consider appraisal
that results in permanent retention of at
least part of the student records.
Source: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ica-suv/StudentRecordsGuidelines.pdf
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11. It’s not just paper anymore!
Gone forever!
There are electronic records that are
now extinct and gone forever.
On the endangered list
How many floppy disks, CD’s, tapes, DVD’s, or
other soon to be obsolete media may contain
records of importance that are not well
preserved and may be unreadable, inaccessible –
and gone?
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12. Decisions,
decisions…
Apply same
decisions to
retaining
electronic
information as
you would to
the traditional
paper format
Also known
Records disposition as…
“Should it stay, or should it
go?”
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13. Records disposition
• inventorying
• appraising
• scheduling
• retiring
disposal policies
transfer guidelines
archival procedures
Doing a records inventory
will help determine:
• Who has records
• What are these records
• Where are these records
• Why are those records there
• How to manage those records until their
value ends
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14. Records disposition
• inventorying
• appraising
• scheduling
• retiring
disposal policies
transfer guidelines
archival procedures
Appraisal policy
• Student records should be covered by an appraisal
policy indicating the groups of documents to be
destroyed at the end of their retention or retained for
permanent preservation.
• Ideally student records should form part of a general
appraisal policy covering all university records and
approved by the competent level of university
management.
• If there is no general appraisal policy, a policy on
appraisal of student records should be elaborated
and approved by institution having authority over
the student records.
• Policy should be reflected in retention schedules or
similar documents.
Source: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ica-suv/StudentRecordsGuidelines.pdf
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15. Records disposition
• inventorying
• appraising
• scheduling
• retiring
disposal policies
transfer guidelines
archival procedures
Retention scheduling
• determining the length of time that the records
should remain in the originating office
• usually influenced by such factors as their
administrative values to the creator
• as a general rule, records are to remain in the
originating office as long as they are active
• records that are inactive but still of value should
remain in a storage facility; while records with no
archival value should be disposed of
• records with archival values should be transferred
to the archives Fe Angela M. Verzosa 30
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16. Records disposition
• inventorying
• appraising
• scheduling
• retiring
disposal policies
transfer guidelines
archival procedures
Records Disposition
• Disposal happens when the minimum
retention period has been met
• Can be destruction or transfer to an Archives
• Can only be done in accordance with your
approved records retention schedules
• Does not require pre-approval for disposition
with a retention schedule
• Anytime your office has been notified of
impending litigation, do not dispose of any
records for any reason. Retention
schedules become mute at this point.
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17. Disposal policy
• Once records are appraised, those records
having no archival value should be destroyed.
• However, the university may consider the
possibility to give records back to students.
• Taking into account sensitive nature of
personal data in student records, they should
be destroyed in accordance with national
legislation for data protection. Any data leaks
should be prevented.
• Appropriate documentation should be made
about the disposal of records.
Source: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ica-suv/StudentRecordsGuidelines.pdf
“Going paperless”
If an agency wants to “go
paperless” there are certain
legal requirements to be met
before source documents can
be destroyed.
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18. IF the records are vital…
Scan away, and transfer the original
documents to a permanent storage
IF the records are archival
Scan away, and transfer the
originals to the archives
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19. Digitization – principal reasons
• For enhanced access Not for
to improve services by
facilitating retrieval • space-saving
• To reduce handling because originals may
and use of fragile or require off-site storage
heavily used originals,
thereby reducing risk • cost-reduction
of loss/damage/ because digitization is
misuse a costly program
• For securing back-up • preservation
copies because originals are
retained.
Ideal storage conditions and
practical alternatives
• Ideal storage: climate
and humidity controlled
environment in acid-free
boxes and file folders
• Practical alternatives:
– acid-free folders in filing
cabinets
– acid-free folders in acid-
free record storage
cartons
– acid-free folders in acid-
free manuscript boxes
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20. Files Equipment
•made of steel
•compact and space-efficient
•allowance for easy extraction &
replacement of files
•mobile
•proximity to authorized personnel
A peak inside the mobile shelf
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21. De La Salle University Archives Theses and CDs on display
Off-site storage facilities
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22. FACILITIES & EQUIPMENT
FIREPROOFING ULTRAVIOLET
AIRCONDITIONING FILTER SCREENS
HUMIDITY CONTROL HEAVY CURTAINS
SMOKE and HEAT ACID-FREE BOXES
DETECTORS ACID-FREE
DOUBLE LOCKS FOLDERS
SECURITY ALARM RUST-FREE
SUPPLIES
COMMON HAZARDS
• temperature • PEOPLE
• humidity using ink/pens
• light using adhesives
• insects and rodents laminating
• fungi, mold, mildew folding, tearing
• acid spilling food/drink
• fire bending, tracing
• water stealing/mutilating
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23. Finally… the 3 e’s
The ultimate test of a good
records management program
is whether the records are
available to those who need
them, when and where they
are needed (effectiveness),
the manner in which they are
made available (efficiency),
and at what cost (economy).
Questions ?
famverzosa@yahoo.com
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