Records Management

Purpose:

To provide for the proper care of the official records of Memorial University through a records management and archival programme.

Scope:

All academic and administrative departments, divisions, faculties, advisory boards and any other body appointed or elected to carry out University business.

Definitions:

Official records of Memorial University - Any documentary materials or items, regardless of physical form or characteristic, which are created or received by or on behalf of any unit in pursuance of the University's objectives or during the course of its operation or business.  These include correspondence, reports, minutes, registers, directives, announcements, manuscripts, publications, architectural and building plans, personnel records of faculty and staff, student records and records of senior officials. Also included are audiovisual materials, film, tapes, photographs, drawings, ephemera and memoranda, computer output data and any other material created or received by the University.

Excluded from this definition are materials acquired by units of the University for the purpose of creating or augmenting the University Library's collections. Similarly, archival or published materials, in print or other formats, collected as reference material to support teaching and research programmes of the University are not official records of the University in themselves. The documents making arrangements for these acquisitions, however, are themselves official records.

Documents produced by University employees in a private capacity are also excluded. These include teaching materials, research materials and professional records of individual academic staff members or groups of such individuals, including unpublished data, manuscripts, notes and correspondence, other than the official records of university committees or administrative units as formally designated by the committee or unit.

Operational usefulness - The period of time from the creation or receipt of a record or document by the University of a unit thereof, to the time when the record or document has fulfilled the operational purpose for which it was originally intended and current access to content is no longer required. Such a record or document may be classed as permanent for further retention, or non-permanent in accordance with a General Record Retention and Disposal Schedule to be established for each unit of the University.

Professional records - Those records which pertain to professional associations or societies and correspondence generated as a result of an academic staff member's obligation to the profession at large.

Records Management - The application of a systematic method, or set of techniques, to manage the records and documentation of the University or organizational unit thereof. The objective is to ensure their proper creation, receipt, use, storage, short- and long-term retention and disposal, their protection and maintenance, during and after their operational usefulness.

Unit - Includes academic and administrative departments, divisions, faculties, schools, advisory boards and any other body appointed or elected to carry out University business.

Policy:

RESPONSIBILITY

1. The Records Office is responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of a comprehensive records management and protection programme in consultation with University units.
2. The administrative head of a unit (including the Chair or Executive Secretary of committees, boards, task forces, etc.) shall be responsible for the application of records management policies and procedures approved by the Records Office.
3. The Records Office shall operate and maintain adequate record storage and reference facilities for inactive records.
4. There shall be an advisory committee responsible for advising the Director of Records on all pertinent matters.

OWNERSHIP OF OFFICIAL RECORDS

The official records of Memorial University are the sole property of the University. Employees leaving or relinquishing their positions within the University shall leave all official records for their successors and/or the Records Office. Official records of archival value are transferred to the Records Office in accordance with records retention and disposal schedules approved by the Office of the President.

OTHER RECORDS

As part of the ongoing task of preserving the record of the life of the University, the Records Office shall be responsible for acquiring the personal and research papers of faculty and staff members who have made a significant contribution to the history and research activities of the University.

The formal publications of the University form a separate class of record and a copy of each shall be deposited, in its final version, with the University Library. All related material concerning the compilation, editing, printing, binding, and sale and distribution of such publications falls within the definition of official records and is to be managed in accordance with this policy.

Procedures

• Procedure For Records Management
• Procedure For Shredding And Disposal Of Confidential Materials - St. John's Campus