University of Minnesota  Procedure

Retention of University Records

Sidebar

Expand all

Sidebar

Table of Contents

TOC placeholder

Questions?

Please use the contact section in the governing policy.

Retention of Information:

Information must be kept according to time frames established in the University-wide Records Retention Schedule or unit specific retention schedules. Information may be kept longer than is necessary, but must not be destroyed before the retention period has been met.

Any records or information that are part of pending or current litigation may not be destroyed, regardless of the record retention schedule. Contact the Office of General Counsel if you have questions about the status of a case.

Retention of information is based on the content of the information, not the medium. For example, electronic mail is a way of transmitting information, not a record itself. Individual emails should be retained and/or deleted based on the content of each message.

Managing Information:

Records may be transferred from one storage medium to another, e.g. paper copy to a scanned image, as long as the integrity of the information remains intact.

If the record is transferred to another storage medium, the original may be destroyed once the information is verified.  This should be done not only to save time and space, but to ensure the appropriate copy is used when accessing the information.

Information should be protected according to Administrative Policy: Information Security.

Contact University Archives for those materials scheduled for transfer or offer to University Archives.

Destruction of Information:

Destroy University information according to Adminstrative Procedure: Destruction of University Records.

If the information you want to destroy is not listed in the University-Wide Records Retention Schedule or individual unit retention schedules, contact the Data Access and Privacy Office.

RECORDS STORAGE

If storing University records at Rosemount, follow Guidelines for Storage of University Records at Rosemount. Contact the Data Access and Privacy Office at 612-625-3497 or [email protected].

Follow Guidelines for Record Storage for storing University records in other places.