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How campus units, records managers, and archivists identify important functions of the university and its constituent units. Understanding how the university works tells us which records document those activities. For more about records analysis, see Records self-assessment.
The unit responsible for retaining and disposing of specific types of university records.
The period of time during which an office of record must maintain a type of record before disposing of it. Retention lasts from the time a record is created until a specific condition or milestone has been met, for example:
Rarely, a group of records is designated for permanent retention. The University of Maryland Records Schedule specifies retention periods and conditions for campus records.
The set of actions a unit must take when the retention period has expired for a set of records (i.e. the specific condition has been met). Common types of disposition include:
Campus units disposing of records must submit a Certificate of Records Disposal.
The Maryland State Archives defines a records retention and disposition schedule as “an official document created by a government agency and approved by the State Archivist. A retention schedule lists every type of record that the agency generates and gives the agency authority to transfer permanent records and destroy non-permanent records at specified times.” (Source: Maryland State Archives, Records Officer Guidance) University records schedules specify the disposition of different types of university records.
Groups of records that share a function and retention requirements.
