Ed Southern of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources gave a presentation "University General Schedule," notes from that presentation follow with links to materials referenced:
Ed started his presentation by giving the definitions of a general schedule and a program schedule. A general schedule is a set of guidelines for retention and disposition of common records; it is not specific to one particular office. A program schedule lists records unique to a specific office, unit, department or program and their dispositions.
In the past every unit, every office at every level had its own tailor made schedule. Due to shortages in staff, proliferation of records and reorganization within universities program schedules became increasingly difficult to create and maintain. Units keep many of the same records so these were repeated on every program schedule.
There is now a general set of guidelines for retention and disposition available on-line for state agencies:
State Agency Records
The guideline is not useful for all office purposes. Some offices will have unique records that won't show up on the general schedule. The majority of records series and dispositions on the State Agency General Schedule are aimed at duplicate or reference copies of records. In some cases, original or record copies of records series appearing on the General Schedule should be considered archival.
The General Schedule for State Agency Records was revised in October 2000 and was based on an earlier document created in 1987.
State Agency Records
This schedule is a result of revising, updating and expanding the general schedule. There are 167 series on this schedule. 40% of the State Archives records management database no longer has to fit into an individual schedule. That leaves 60% of records series that are unique and have to be included in individual schedules.
Because of the software used by the State Archives no archival items are listed in the general schedule.
The electronic version of the document allows for easier, cheaper amendments and dissemination of information. The website version is the official general schedule to be used by state agencies. The introduction has email guidelines, which have been revised. The printed copy is no longer valid.
An addition to the General Schedule will soon cover records created by or cared for by Information Technology departments. This section is in draft now. Just yesterday an Incident Report File was added to the draft. We are trying to determine what an incident report should be. If 160,000 spams infiltrate the email system at one time, should 1 incident report referring to all 160,000 spams be written or should 160,000 reports be written?
A general schedule for universities was created in 1985 and revised in 1991. It was organized by office:
Chancellor
Vice Chancellor
Admissions
Archives
Athletics
Bookstore
Business Affairs
Data Processing Center
Departments
Foundations Office
Library
Maintenance / Physical Plant
Medical Clinic / Dispensary
Personnel
Public Relations / Publicity
Registrar
Schools / Divisions
Security / Police
Student Affairs
It was a good schedule for its time. It was created as a collaborative effort between the Department of Cultural Resources and the university records managers. When completed two copies were sent to each university. One to the Chancellor's Office and one to the records manager.
No attempt was made to identify record copies or official copies of series. The schedule also contained front matter describing what an archival space should be and how it should be set up. For example, an archival space should not be located in a basement, an attic, or near pipes.
Recently, ECU finalized a general schedule.
ECU General Schedule
This schedule has about 96 series. It also indicates the Office of Record for each record series. Archival series are also listed on this schedule.
UNC-CH has developed Auto Text. This is a special format that allows the records managers at UNC-CH to give each unit a sense of ownership over their records by giving each a complete list of the records they keep. The Auto Text document has about 60 items listed. These have been reviewed and the text agreed upon and don't have to be sent for review each time now. They only have to send the list of unique records for review which saves time.
UNC-CH has also developed a SPA records module. This chart identifies individual personnel records, duplicates, copies, where each is assigned and the disposition of each copy.
Ed said that DCR is not tied to any specific format or graphics. We should contact him for help in starting a records management program or for help in reactivating a program.
Plans for the Future - In 2004 DCR will be reissuing a revised general schedule for universities. This will again be a collaborative effort between records managers and DCR. It is expected to be more comprehensive. Dispositions currently in use at ASU, UNC-CH and ECU will be taken into consideration. Some documents will show some archival records. The schedules are written to show the most legally safe disposition and the minimal retention requirements. Program schedules will continue to be reviewed as before.
The chief practical problem in giving advice to the universities is now assuring that each university records manager knows that an office has contacted Ed When Ed is contacted by an office on campus, he gives them some basic infomration and then refers them back to each university and records manager. He copies the records manager on any email discussion that takes place with a unit. Related to this problem is the question of authorization for a retention period. DCR sets a minimum through the instrumentality of the University General Schedule (to be revised in 2004), but each university administration needs to assume responsibility for being sure the University General Schedule is followed and that unique records series are listed on a program schedule.
