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Re: college archives policy and records management



Linda,
Connecting college archives and records management was recently the
topic of an active discussion among SUNY special collections librarians.
A few years ago, the Special Collections Librarian at SUNY Albany (if I
remember correctly), Geoff Williams? (he may have recently retired), was
on a statewide group to develop a records retention policy for state
college and university units. This was meant to be an elaboration of the
State Archives' Records Retention Policy (available on their website:
http://www.archives.nysed.gov/services/recmgmt.htm
The hydbrid for academic institutions was drafted, but is yet to be
adopted.

New York requires every governmental unit to designate a Records
Management Officer and adopt a records retention schedule. This schedule
is the minimum that things must be retained. It does not deal with
addition to an archive except to point out that some things might be of
historical value. At most institutions, the Records Managment Officer is
NOT an archivist: usually it is a clerk/administrative assistant in
campus administrative unit. After most of the records of all kinds were
taken to the dump from our college a few years ago in preparation for
building renovations (I found out after the fact), I began educating
myself and agitating for change. Since this is a common situation, it
became a topic of discussion for SUNY archivists. We are hoping to
create a new paradigm in the minds of senior adminstrators, but are very
wary of merely offering a labor saving (read 'cheaper') alternative
where a new set of duties is added to our already full plate without a
concomitant shift of resources.

Good luck (you're not alone),
Wayne Miller
Plattsburgh State U of NY

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