Records Management
University Policy
Applies to: All faculty, staff, student employees, vendors, and volunteers

Responsible Office
POLICY
Issued:Revised:Edited:Office of Academic Affairs - University Archives

04/01/1967
04/01/2010
10/01/2018

The Ohio State University (the university) recognizes the need to effectively manage its dynamic and complex organization,
while at the same time preserving its history. Therefore, the university seeks to manage the retention and disposition of its
records to:
A. document our management decisions;B. provide historical references of transactions and events;
C. comply with laws and regulations;D. enhance our organization’s operational efficiencies;
E. provide litigation support; andF. preserve the university’s institutional memory.
Purpose of the Policy
In compliance with Ohio Revised Code 149.33(B), the Records Management policy establishes a program for thecreation, preservation, and disposition of records created by the university.
Definitions
Term

Definition

Disposition

Final destruction or transfer to the archives.

RecordAny 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 thejurisdiction of any public office of the state or its political subdivisions, which serves to document theorganization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the office.

Record Series

A group of related records filed and/or used together as a unit and therefore evaluated as a unit forretention and disposition purposes.

Retention Period

The length of time records should be kept in a certain location or form for administrative, legal, fiscal,
historical, or other purposes.

Retention ScheduleComprehensive list of record series, indicating for each the length of time the series is to be maintained
and its disposition.

Policy Details
I.
Authority
A. The University Archives is responsible for developing and maintaining the General Records Retention
Schedule for the management and disposition of university records common to many offices, as well as
developing schedules for campus units with unique records. The University Archives provides for theselection, preservation, and research use of records that have enduring historical value that:
1. document the origin, development, and operation of university units; and2. relate the roles of the faculty and staff and/or student organizations to the operational
activities of Ohio State or campus life.

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Records Management
University Policy
Applies to: All faculty, staff, student employees, vendors, and volunteers
B. This authority, originally established by Board of Trustees actions in 1965 and 1966, and set forth inSection 9 of the Ohio State Operating Manual, was reaffirmed by the Board of Trustees’ Resolution No.
2009-11 in July 2008.
Further, the Ohio Revised Code 149.33(B) empowers state-supported institutions of higher education torun their own records management programs using efficient and economical management methods forthe creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposition of the records.
C. To apply efficient and economical management methods, the Inter-University Council of Ohio (IUC)—
the fourteen public universities in Ohio—has chosen to develop a model records retention schedule formember institutions to utilize as a basis for creating local general and unique schedules. Further, theOhio State Board of Trustees charged the Universities Archives to assist with updating and revising theInter-University Manual on Records Retention. This process establishes an expectation for andconsistency in the management of records for these public institutions of higher education.
II.

Why Do We Keep Records?
A. Records must be maintained and managed if there is a legal requirement to do so. Further, there may befiscal reasons for retaining records—typically managing them until an audit is completed. In absence oflegal and fiscal requirements, there may be administrative needs that necessitate the maintenance andmanagement of records. Finally, a portion of the records will be accessioned and maintained by theUniversity Archives, at the end of their useful administrative life, due to their historical significance.

III.

What Is a Record?
A. University records may include but are not limited to:
1. financial records such as requisitions, purchase orders, invoices, bank data, and ledgers orjournals;
2. administrative records such as correspondence, reports, policy statements and related items
sent and received;
3. minutes of all university boards, committees and other groups;
4. personnel records of faculty, staff, and students;
5. student records;
6. publications and other items issued by the university; or
7. sound recordings, video recordings or photographs of university faculty, staff, groups orevents.
B. As a public institution, The Ohio State University’s records are public records, and therefore areavailable for public scrutiny as per the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 149.43(A)(1). Subsections (a)through (aa) define what documents are not public records and/or what information in a public record is
not disclosable.

IV.

How Long Do We Keep Records?
A. The amount of time that Ohio State must maintain records depends upon the legal, fiscal,administrative, and/or historical informational value.
B. Records retention conceptually can be grouped into six major categories, described here in shortest to
longest retention periods:
1. Non-record: Any document, device, or item, regardless of physical form or characteristic, thathas been created or received in the course of university business that fails to serve as
documentation of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, orother activities of offices of the university. Non-records may include but are not limited to:

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University Policy
Applies to: All faculty, staff, student employees, vendors, and volunteers
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

catalogs
external Listserv® materials
junk mail/spam
non-University publications
personal correspondence

2. Transient/Transitory Records: DOcuments including telephone messages, some emails, drafts,
and other documents, which serve to convey information of a temporary value, have a very
short lived administrative, legal, and/or fiscal value and should be disposed in an appropriatemanner once that administrative, legal, and/or fiscal use has expired. Typically the retention
is not a fixed period of time and is event driven; it may be as short as a few hours and could
be as long as several days or weeks.
3. Short-Term Records: Records with short-term retention are documents (including someemail) of significant administrative, legal, and/or fiscal value having a definitive life,
typically ten (10) years or less. Upon expiration of that retention period, the records should bedisposed in an appropriate manner as soon as possible.
4. Long-Term Records: Records with long-term retention are documents (including some email)which have significant administrative, legal, and/or fiscal value and have a life that is
typically longer than ten (10) years. Upon expiration of that retention period, the records
should be disposed in an appropriate manner as soon as possible.
5. Indefinite Records: Records with an indefinite retention are documents (including someemail) which have significant administrative, legal, and/or fiscal value; further they have anenduring administrative or historical value, and therefore may be retained until such a point intime as a reappraisal of their value to the organization is conducted.
6. Permanent Records: Records with a permanent retention records are documents (includingsome email) which have significant administrative, legal, and/or fiscal value; further they
have an enduring historical value and therefore may be retained forever.

PROCEDURE
Issued:Revised:Edited:04/01/1967
04/01/2010
10/01/2018

I. Records Retention Schedules
A. Ohio State’s General Records Retention Schedule (General Schedule) accounts for the management anddisposition of university record series that are common to many units across campus. In addition, there
are units on campus that have record series that are unique to their operations and therefore have uniquerecords retention schedules in addition to the General Schedule. All schedules, general or unique, aredeveloped by the University Archives in consultation with campus and unit representatives.
B. All university units must familiarize themselves with the General Schedule, and have an understandingof what records—paper-based and electronic—they create and/or receive and are required to manage.
1. Units must conduct an inventory of their records and map them to the General Schedule.
2. If a unit identifies record types that do not map to the General Schedule, the unit should
contact the University Archives to discuss the creation of a unique schedule. All unit uniqueschedules must be signed by the University Archivist and an appropriate unit representative.
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Records Management
University Policy
Applies to: All faculty, staff, student employees, vendors, and volunteers
II. Disposition of Records
Part of any effective records management program is the timely disposition of obsolete records and thedocumentation thereof. Ohio State units have two general disposition options:
A. Records Destruction: A record series must exist on an approved schedule if it is to be disposed. The
Ohio State unit needs to confirm that the retention period of the documents has expired and that there is
no legal hold on the records (see Section II.B. below). Destruction can be accomplished in a variety ofways:
1. recycling
2. trash
3. incineration
4. maceration
5. shredding
6. pulping
7. demagnetization (or other electronic destruction)
If restricted information, as defined in the university’s Institutional Data policy, is evident, records
should be destroyed in a secure manner such as incineration, maceration, shredding or pulping, the mostcommon method being that of shredding.
Before actually disposing of the records, the university unit should complete and forward a Certificateof Records Destruction (CRD) to the University Archives for review and permanent retention. Units
are strongly encouraged to conduct a records purge at a minimum of an annual basis.
Due to the low informational value, high volume, and frequency of disposal, a CRD does not need to becompleted for the routine disposal of transient records.
B. Records Transfer: Some records created by Ohio State units have or may have enduring historical value
and should be transferred to the University Archives once they have served their useful life as dictatedby the records retention schedule. The disposition for these records are typically noted as “Transfer toArchives” or “Archival Review”. If the unit has determined that records should be transferred to theArchives, please follow the procedures detailed at: library.osu.edu/osu-records-management/transfers.
III.

Records Requests and Litigation Holds
A. As previously noted, Ohio State’s records are public records, and therefore must be made available,with certain exceptions, for public scrutiny as per the Ohio Revised Code and the university’s Public
Records Policy. While Ohio law does not state when records are to be provided, the statute requires thatOhio State provide copies of existing records that are requested with reasonable specificity, within areasonable period of time. Additional information regarding the handling of public records requests canbe found at: compliance.osu.edu/public-records.
B. When a legal action is brought against the university, Federal and State of Ohio Rules of Civil
Procedure allow for a discovery motion to be made to examine Ohio State records—paper-based andelectronic—related to the litigation. A litigation hold should be placed upon the records and thedisposition process suspended until such time as the litigation is resolved. Contact the Office of Legal
Affairs for additional information.

IV.

Document Conversion
A. Document imaging is the conversion of paper-based documents to digital images, making them readily
accessible, thereby enhancing the business processes and workflows of Ohio State units. The Ohio
Electronic Records Committee—an ongoing collaboration, established by the State of Ohio Archives in1998, with representatives from state and local government, academia, and historical societies—hasThe Ohio State University – University Policies policies.osu.edu

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Records Management
University Policy
Applies to: All faculty, staff, student employees, vendors, and volunteers
developed guidelines regarding document imaging best practices. This guidance can be found at:ohioerc.org/?page_id=530.
B. There is nothing in Ohio state law or regulations that prohibit a public agency from disposing of theoriginal paper records once they have been imaged. However, before embarking on a document
imaging project and/or disposing of converted records, Ohio State units should develop local imaging
system policies and procedures in consultation with the University Archives. The local policies andprocedures document should identify:
1. the governance of the project;
2. the records being imaged/converted and their mapping to the General Schedule and/or unit
unique schedule;
3. the hardware/software being utilized for imaging/conversion;
4. a brief step-by-step description of the actual process (i.e., a “How To” manual);
5. scanning resolution and file format;
6. the indexing schema for retrieval and ultimate disposition of the records;
7. the quality control process (operator and supervisory);
8. the back-up and data recovery plans;
9. the redaction process for restricted information (FERPA, HIPAA, et al);
10. a buffer time, post-imaging, before the paper records will be destroyed;
11. the process for the disposal of paper records in a manner that maintains confidentiality; and12. an acknowledgment that imaged records must be destroyed at the end of their life per theretention schedule and that a Certificate of Records Destruction must be submitted at thattime.
ResponsibilitiesPosition or Office

Responsibilities

Office of Legal Affairs

1.
2.

Assist with the handling of discovery requests
Assist with the handling of public records requests

Ohio State Units

1.

Provide for the retention, storage, access, and disposition of university records in compliance withOhio State’s General Records Retention Schedule, and if appropriate, a unit unique schedule
Process e-Discovery requests
Process public records requests
Integrate document conversion projects into a localized records management program

2.
3.
4.
University Archives

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Develop the university’s General Records Retention Schedule
Develop unique records retention schedules for appropriate Ohio State units
Oversee records destruction process including permanent retention of Certificates of Records
Destruction
Provide retention, storage, and access to historic university records
Educate Ohio State personnel in records management policy and procedures
Assist with the development of local records policies and procedures

Resources
Forms
Certificate of Records Destruction, library.osu.edu/osu-records-management/evaluation
Additional Guidance
Ohio Revised Code 149, codes.ohio.gov/orc/149
OSU General Retention Schedule, library.osu.edu/osu-records-management/retention-schedules
Paper & Bytes Training, library.osu.edu/osu-records-management/workshops
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Records Management
University Policy
Applies to: All faculty, staff, student employees, vendors, and volunteers
Contacts
SubjectOfficeTelephone

E-mail/URL

Litigation and e-Discovery

Office of Legal Affairs

614.292.0611

lemmon.31@osu.edu (MarkLemmon)baumann.91@osu.edu (KendraBaumann)
https://legal.osu.edu/

Public Records

Office of University Compliance &Integrity – Public Records Office614.247.2260

moormann.3@osu.edu (RobertMoormann)hainer.8@osu.edu(Scott Hainer)
https://compliance.osu.edu/publicrecords/

Records Management:
University Archives
Document Imaging andConversion, Electronic Record
Management, Records
Disposal and Transfer, andRetention Scheduling

History

Issued:Edited:Re-issued:
Re-issued:
Revised:Edited:614.292.4092

swift.102@osu.edu(Pari Swift)
https://library.osu.edu/osurecords-management

04/01/1967
07/01/1970, University Operating Manual, Section 907/01/1971, University Operating Manual, Section 907/01/1972, University Operating Manual, Section 904/01/2010
10/01/2018

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