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Records Management

Records Management is the field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records.  The Department of Archives and Special Collections provides assistance to all College departments and offices to help them efficiently manage institutional records.  This is important because well-managed records are an asset to the College, while unmanaged records are a liability.

What is a record?  Good question.  Records aren’t just paper documents.  They include any recorded information, regardless of medium or characteristics, created, received, and maintained by an organization or person.  In other words, they can include not just papers, but also materials such as photographs, audio and video recordings, and College or departmental publications.  Records come in physical and electronic form.

Records Management Policies

The Archives maintains a General Records Retention Schedule to ensure that College records are maintained to meet all legal, fiscal, administrative, and operational requirements; to ensure that records of historic value are identified and transferred to the Archives; and to ensure that records that are no longer needed for legal, fiscal, administrative, or operational requirements are destroyed as prescribed by law.  The General Records Retention Schedule may be supplemented by department- or office-specific schedules as needed.

In addition, the College administers several policies relevant to records management:

Records Consultations

Archives staff are available to work with departments and offices to help them apply retention requirements; create a department- or office-specific schedule; and provide advice on storage, organization, and digitization.  For more information, please contact Rachel Walton, Digital Archivist and Records Management Coordinator, at rwalton@rollins.edu or 407-691-1127.

Records Transfers

All records of enduring value, when no longer in current use in the department or office to which they pertain, should be transferred to the Archives.  Collecting these records (both paper and electronic) allows us to document the development and growth of the College, including its functions of teaching and research, its role in the community at large, the activities of its faculty, student body and alumni, and the development of its built environment and landscape of the campus.  See Records Transfer Procedures (PDF) for transfer instructions and for guidelines on what—and what not—to transfer to the Archives.