Effective 07/01/03
Updated 06/25/07
The General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule and retention periods governing the records series listed herein are hereby approved. In accordance with the provisions of Chapters 121 and 132 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, it is agreed that the records listed herein of EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY do not and will not have further official use or value for administrative, research, or reference purposes after the respective retention periods specified herein. The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources consents to the destruction or other disposition of these records in accordance with the retention and disposition instructions specified in this schedule. However, records subject to audit or those legally required for ongoing official proceedings must be retained until released from such audits or official proceedings, notwithstanding the instructions of this schedule. Public records including machine readable records not listed in this schedule are not authorized to be destroyed. EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY agrees to destroy, transfer or dispose of records in the manner and at the times specified herein. This schedule is to remain in effect until superseded.
APPROVAL RECOMMENDED by:
Suellyn Lathrop, University Archivist
East Carolina University
Jeffrey J. Crow, Deputy Secretary
Office of Archives and History
APPROVED by:
William Muse, Chancellor
East Carolina University
Lisbeth Evans, Secretary
Department of Cultural Resources
Records may be destroyed only on the basis of both the departmental records
schedule developed for your office and the General Schedule for East Carolina
University Records. The consistent and routine implementation of the disposition
instructions listed in these schedules provides the proper and legal foundation
for the disposition of public records through destruction or transfer to the
University Records Center. Your departmental records disposition schedule lists
those departmental-specific records maintained in your office as reported to
the University Records Manager. It lists only those records that are unique
to your office, or for which your office has university wide responsibility
for maintaining, whether they are to be destroyed in your office or transferred
to the University Records Center. The General Schedule addresses records commonly
found in departments throughout the university, provides uniform descriptions
and disposition instructions, and indicates minimum retention periods. Every
schedule provides a brief description of each records group (following the item
identification number) and instructions for their authorized disposition (following
the words "DISPOSITION INSTRUCTIONS"). There is an indication of office(s)
of record for each records group. These offices should consult their individual
schedule to see if there are different disposition requirements.
Authority for these disposition instructions is contained in Chapters 121 and
132 of the General Statutes of North Carolina. Compliance with the disposition
instructions listed will help ensure conformity with these laws. Compliance
will also help assure that records of continuing value are retained and those
no longer of value are destroyed. Procedures to be followed in applying this
schedule are explained in the N.C. Administrative Code, Title 7, Chapter 4,
Subchapter M, Section 500. Errors and omissions do not invalidate these schedules
or render them obsolete. All provisions of these schedules remain in effect
until they are officially superseded.
Supervisors or other responsible office personnel are requested to notify the
University Records Manager whenever corrections, additions, or deletions in
program records schedules should be made. The University Records Manager will
then amend that schedule in order to ensure that it remains complete and accurate.
The official published version of the General Schedule is available through East Carolina University’s site on the World Wide Web (www), currently located at the following address: http://www.ecu.edu/business_manual/ (Please note that this address is subject to change over time.)
The University Records Manager will provide, upon request, the following assistance
to departments in the maintenance and operation of records schedules:
There is currently no charge for these services.
The University Records Management Program assumes that every department at East
Carolina University sends and receives electronic mail ("e-mail").
E-mail (unless it is personal in nature) contains information of value concerning,
or evidence of, the administration, management, operations, activities, and
business of an office. Like paper records---such as the memoranda, correspondence,
reports, and the hundreds of other types of records received traditionally,
for example, through interoffice or U.S. mail or other avenues---e-mail has
administrative, legal, reference, and/or archival values. The content of electronic
mail is a public record (according to G.S. 121-2 (8) and 132.1) and may not
be disposed of, erased, or destroyed without specific guidance from the Department
of Cultural Resources. This regulation, along with a current records retention
and disposition schedule, is intended to provide for that guidance.
Accordingly, departments which use e-mail should normally retain or destroy
e-mail by following the provisions of either their own department-specific records
retention and disposition schedule or the General Schedule for East Carolina
University Records. Additional guidelines are available from the North Carolina
Department of Cultural Resources in their E-Mail as a Public Record in North
Carolina guideline: http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/records/e_records/default.htm
Taken together, these documents will guide the filing of e-mail (whether in
paper or electronic format) within existing records series, and the handling
of it according to the disposition instructions assigned to each such records
series. Because of the characteristics of the medium, however, electronic mail
also possesses a dual identity. E-mail is also used to transmit and receive
messages that may have reference or administrative value but which are simultaneously
of an ephemeral, temporary, or transient nature. As such, e-mail of this kind
functions in some ways like telephone calls or telephone messages. Such messages
remain public records but may be treated as having a reference or administrative
value that ends when the user no longer needs the information such a record
contains. E-mail of ephemeral or rapidly diminishing value may be erased or
destroyed when the user has determined that its reference value has ended.
Departments need, however, to pay particular attention to the sometimes complex
requirements for the retention of e-mail for longer periods of time, i.e. e-mail
of more than transient value. E-mail in this category may be retained in electronic
or paper form (the latter may in some cases be the only means of providing for
archival retention, for example through microfilming of paper copies), but must
be retained for as long as the period specified in a valid records schedule.
If retained in paper form, the copies must retain transmission and receipt data.
If electronic mail is retained in electronic form, office administrators need
to insure that their electronic environment (client server, mainframe computer
in or outside their department, or office personal computer) assures the retention
of e-mail for the required period of time. Office administrators may need to
contact relevant personnel at ITCS (Information Technology & Computing Services),
at their own department computer systems unit, or any other personnel who operate
computer units or systems immediately or remotely, to insure that such systems
process e-mail in accordance with records retention schedules and provide for
backups, disaster recovery, physical and electronic security, and the general
integrity of the system, its components, and the records it generates and maintains.
Office administrators may also need to assure that office filing systems adequately
provide for the proper classification of electronic files (including e-mail)
in the same manner as currently provided for paper-based files.
All ECU employees who use e-mail should regularly and consistently retain and
delete e-mail in accordance with the program records retention and disposition
schedule for their offices, the General Schedule for East Carolina University
Records, and other instructions, as provided above. Retention of e-mail or any
other records, whether in electronic or paper format, for longer than provided
in a valid records retention and disposition schedule leads to inefficiency
and waste and may subject the affected office to legal vulnerabilities.
According to the General Schedule for East Carolina University Records, records
dispositions are determined by the content of the record, not the format. When
electronic records are the primary form of a records series, care should be
taken to maintain and backup these records at regular intervals to prevent the
loss of information. Supervisors or other responsible office personnel should
consult with ITCS and the University Records Manager regarding proper backup
procedures, disposal and/or permanent retention of electronic records to ensure
future usability.
According to North Carolina General Statutes 121 and 132, every document, paper,
letter, map, book, photograph, film, sound recording, magnetic or other tape,
electronic data processing record, artifact, or other documentary material,
regardless of physical form or characteristic, made or received in connection
with the transaction of public business by any state, county, municipal agency,
or other political subdivision of government is considered a public record and
may not be disposed of, erased, or destroyed without specific guidance from
the Department of Cultural Resources. The Department of Cultural Resources recognizes
that many records exist that may have very short-term value to the creating
agency. These guidelines, along with an approved program records retention and
disposition schedule and the General Schedule for East Carolina University Records,
are intended to authorize the expeditious disposal of records possessing only
brief administrative, fiscal, legal, research, or reference value, in order
to enhance the efficient management of public records. Examples of those records
include:
The records described above may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of when their
reference value ends.
This guideline is not intended to serve as authorization to destroy or otherwise
dispose of unscheduled records. This guideline is intended to complement the
use of both an approved records retention and disposition schedule for the department,
and the General Schedule for East Carolina University Records, not replace or
supersede either. Should a creating department lack an approved program records
retention and disposition schedule, it may not destroy or otherwise dispose
of any records in its custody, whether in electronic, paper, or other format
(including electronic mail), which are not so authorized by the General Schedule.
Such offices should contact the University Records Manager for assistance in
creating a schedule.
While records of short-term value may be discarded as described above, all ECU
employees should be familiar with specific program records retention and disposition
schedules and applicable guidelines for their office, the General Schedule for
East Carolina University Records, as well as the public records law (G.S. §132).
When in doubt about whether a record has short-term value, or whether it has
special significance or importance, retain the record in question.
Go to Joyner Library's Records Management Program Page
Click here to see an inventory of individual office records stored in the Joyner Library Records Center. Click here for more information regarding statutes cited.