Author Archives: Jonathan Kirkwood

What’s a record?

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Librarians, archivists, and records managers can say “record” to one another and know it means document, catalog record, three-dimensional object, or digital file. But this wide net can confuse those who create and manage records but do not consider them central to their jobs. Ask and they may reply “What’s a record?”

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At the University of Cincinnati, a record, whether it’s created, received, or managed by university employees represents an action taken to complete a task. Many documents, paper or digital, can be considered records. But not all for various reasons. Records exist in many places, from filing cabinets to the cloud. Email is a curious case, being both a record and a means for transmitting them.

Record is a ubiquitous term that casts a wide net. Any confusion is understandable. But at UC, a record can be any document, device, or item, physical or digital, regardless of its purpose. Whatever its form or the purpose it was created for or received by UC, a record serves to document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, and other activities at UC.

At the same time, not every document, device, or item constitutes a record. Examples include rough notes, drafts, or copies kept for reference which do not contain information requiring preservation or duplicate information found in documents deemed official records. Because they are not considered records, they may be discarded whenever the creator or user deems it appropriate.

Credit: Element5 Digital

Those that are records can be found in many locations. Physical ones include boxes, filing cabinets, and folders. Digital locations include computers, shared drives, databases, the cloud, and email servers.

But email as both a record and a location? The answer is yes. Those considered records contain information that falls under the campus-wide General Records and Retention Schedule (GRS), which determines how long records are retained. This does not mean that all emails constitute records. These typically include meeting reminders, courtesy copies, listserv notices, drafts, or a means to transmit documents (e.g. attachments or OneDrive links). They may be deleted.

The definition of a record at UC means that it documents an activity. Not all documents and items, physical or digital, are considered records. Those deemed records can be found in many places from filing cabinets to Teams. Emails serve as both records and means for transmitting them. With this knowledge, UC faculty and staff can exercise greater confidence in knowing what records are and are not and their uses.

So you want to learn about records management

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The Archives & Rare Books Library is pleased to serve the University of Cincinnati with instruction in records management. With a student population of 53,000 and 12,000 employees, lots of records are created, received, managed, and destroyed or transferred at UC every day. The instruction gives employees the skills and knowledge to confidently manage records under their oversight. But what can they expect from instruction?

It starts with defining what a record is: any document, device, or item – physical or digital – that’s created by or received by UC to perform an action. That’s a broad definition but necessary with the many kinds of records on campus. At the same time, it’s just as important to know what is not a record: rough notes or drafts of official documents.

With these definitions, employees can better understand their responsibilities, starting with the four reasons for records management at UC: 1. Minimizing legal risk; 2. Reducing physical and digital storage costs; 3. Increasing administrative efficiency; 4. Preserving UC history. These help employees learn to create or receive records only as necessary to do their jobs and help others. But what about keeping or discarding records?

That involves the records retention schedules. They are a huge part of records management, determining how long records are kept. Most records at UC fall under the General Records Schedule. The GRS governs common business, administrative, and education records. Most areas of UC use the GRS. Yet some units have highly specialized records and therefore use unique retention schedules. Training helps employees understand and navigate both.

With staff understanding what records are, their responsibilities, and the retention schedules, they are ready to learn about destruction and transfer of records. Some records lose their usefulness with time and require destruction. But any destruction is documented on a form. Other records retain their usefulness and are transferred to University Archives.

To learn more about records management at UC, please contact the Records Manager to schedule a training for your unit (kirkwojp@ucmail.uc.edu or 513-556-1958. Training typically lasts one hour with a presentation and Q&A after. Specialized topics require more notice and preparation.

Changing of the GRS

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Change happens. It’s a fact of life. For lots of reasons. Recent changes to the General Records Schedule, the document providing direction for the disposition of records generated by UC personnel, show that it’s no different for records retention. While slight, the changes were still essential to executing the records management program. What is as important as change happening is that these changes be documented for and shared with relevant stakeholders. Fortunately, at UC a process exists for that. It occurs in three phases: the reason behind the changes, how the GRS is updated, and communication of the changes.

General Records Schedule Archives and Rare Books Library Records management
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