Chapter 2 Records Management — General Information

Records Management Justification

Every office and department on campus is faced with problems of storage space, as well as decisions about which records to keep and which to discard. The Oregon State University Archives and Records Management Program assists offices and departments with these problems and decisions. It strives to achieve economy and efficiency in the creation, use, maintenance, and disposal of public records. Records management also affords legal protection for the institution as well as satisfying federal and state statutory requirements.

Economy

After personnel costs, records keeping is the largest expenditure of government. Record creation, maintenance, filing, office storage space, filing supplies, and equipment all contribute to the high cost of keeping records. Certain strategies can greatly reduce these costs.

Dispose of records as soon as legally possible. Approximately 95 percent of all records are non-permanent; an estimated 85 percent have a retention period of ten years or less.
Store records with low reference activity in low-cost, non-office storage space.
Use appropriate and efficient filing equipment and systems.

Efficiency

Good records management makes records keeping easier and more productive. Having fewer files in the office filing system makes individual record retrieval and refiling easier and faster, and reduces the number of misfiles. Nearly 14 percent of all records are misfiled at some time, at a cost of more than $165 per misfile. A file check-out procedure for both active and inactive files also makes refiling easier and more accurate.

Legal Protection

Records management reduces nuisance litigation by reducing the quantity of records that attorneys may subpoena through the legal process of discovery. Following records retention schedules assures courts, litigants, and auditors that records are being disposed of properly and in a routine manner, not maliciously or in a capricious way.

Statutory Requirements

Records management is mandated by state law. Several state statutes and administrative rules pertain to public records:

Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 166-30-016 states that each state agency will establish a records management program by designating an agency records officer to "organize and coordinate records scheduling, retirement, central storage, and destruction." At Oregon State University, the University Archivist is the designated agency records officer and is charged with implementing records management policies.
OAR 166-05-000 states that "it is the policy of the State of Oregon to assure the preservation of records essential to meet the needs of the state, its political subdivisions, and its citizens, and to assure the prompt destruction of records without continuing value." Over time, many records cease to be of value to the state or to the public, and prompt disposal of those records is essential to reduce costs and to improve access to those records that continue to have value.
Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 192.105 allows the State Archivist to authorize the retention or disposition of public records in the custody of state agencies, based upon the legal, administrative, and research value of the records. The statute also directs the State Archivist to establish rules for the retention and disposition of public records.
ORS 192.420 gives every Oregonian the right to inspect any public record of a public body in the state; exceptions are noted in ORS 192.496 and 192.501 to 192.505. ORS 192.430 requires custodians of public records to furnish reasonable access to the records in their offices during regular business hours, and to furnish facilities for reviewing the records.