Records Clean-Up Days: Getting Your Records Storage Under Control

Summer quarter seems to be a popular time of the year for departments to roll up their sleeves, pull on their jeans, and tackle the backlog of records sitting in storage areas. The increased amount of archival collections that we have received and the certificates of disposals being submitted made me think of writing an article to help departments that may be contemplating a cleaning project. Whether you have a central storage area that needs to be cleaned out or individual offices that need attention, organizing a clean-up day is a good way to get it done. Here are some tips to planning and carrying out a successful records clean-up day.

Get everyone involved

Everyone creates and stores records, so to get a good handle on what you have, what can be disposed of and what needs to stay, try to get as many people in the department involved as possible. Highlight the benefits of creating and maintaining a well-organized file system and work area. If you are working on a storage area, take inventory of what you have in storage to the best of your ability and contact the people who are responsible for the records.

Consult your records retention schedules

It is essential to consult your records retention schedules to find out whether or not you can dispose of the records. You will want to review the schedule itself and see if it requires any updates before the clean-up day. Also, make sure that records for each unit of the department are covered on a schedule. If not, contact records management to update and existing schedule or create a new one to address the missing records.

Contact Records Management

If you need updated or new schedules, the work will have to be completed before your scheduled day so that you can dispose of the records that were not currently scheduled at the outset of your planning. Additionally, I would be happy to be onsite on the day of your clean-up to assist with records analysis and to box up records to be transferred to the Archives. An extra set of hands is always helpful during a records clean-up!

Pick a date and advertise it.

This can be made easier if you use Outlook calendaring. Use the “Plan a Meeting” action in the calendar application to view the schedules of the staff in your department to determine the time when you will be able to get the most participation.

If each staff member is working on their own desk/office area, draft some guidelines for addressing records and let them know where the departmental records retention schedules can be found. If it is impossible or inconvenient for a staff member to participate on the date that you assign, you can ask them to examine their stored records before the event and mark what can be disposed of and what should be retained.

Don’t forget your electronic records

PCs and storage media should be evaluated as well as your paper records. This is a good time to evaluate whether you need to migrate records to another medium or format in order to keep them accessible throughout their lifetime. Electronic storage may have special destruction requirements. See UCit’s Computer and Electronic Media Disposal Policy at http://www.uc.edu/ucit/documents/RETIRED_EQUIPMENT_CLEANING_PROCESS.pdf.

Have equipment and supplies ready

Make sure that you have a dolly or two for moving boxes that will be disposed of or stored elsewhere. You may also need records cartons if you are pulling records out of file cabinets and transferring them to inactive storage and bins for the temporary storage of records to be shredded if a vendor is not onsite. Your shredding vendor may be able to supply you with the appropriate bins.  Disposable dust masks are recommended, especially if participants have allergies. Also, don’t forget a broom and dust pan and other cleaning supplies. Storage areas can get pretty dusty. And of course, have your records retention schedules available as well as something to note down what is being disposed of so that it will be easier later to complete your certificate of records disposal.

Set up shredding services

Chances are good that you will end up with more paper to shred than a department-owned machine can handle. If you do not already have a relationship with a shredding vendor, you can find contact information on the records management website at http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/records_management/vendors.html. Additionally, you can contact the office of Information Security, which has a contract with Shred-It. InfoSec can be reached at infosec@uc.edu or by calling 558-ISec.

Most shredding vendors can either pick up your material after the clean-up is complete, or they can be onsite during the event. Decide what you would like to do and discuss your needs with the vendor beforehand.

Complete disposal certificates

As always, it is essential that you document what records you dispose of, including those that you destroy or discard AND those that you transfer to the Archives. As you will have a lot going on the day of your clean-up and several people may be responsible for disposal, it may be easiest to have a notepad available and write down what records are being disposed of as it happens, then completing the form later. The certificate forms can be found at http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/records_management/FormsDownloads.html.

Keep things organized

Now that you have everything clean, tidy and organized, nail down procedures that will help to keep it that way. Institute an annual or semi-annual records purge based on retention requirements. The frequency of a purge should be based on the volume of records that you accumulate, the space you have available for storage, and the resources you have to perform the purge. Make rules for what can be stored in a central area and who can authorize storage. Chances are good that your storage areas will not become cluttered if they are being monitored. As fun as record clean-up days are, one major one is enough!

Records Quarterly
Vol. 2 No. 2 Summer 2009