Records Management Resources to help employees manage university records

Records are fundamental to office operations, and retaining vital and historical records is necessary for day-to-day work, strategic and long-range planning and assessment, and for celebrating important milestones. However, the uncontrolled proliferation of records leads to serious impairment of our effectiveness and ability to do our work as well as significant increases in operating costs, risk, and liability.

As a state agency, the University of Kentucky is--and by extension all university employees are--legally bound to treat records created, used, and/or in its possession as public records that must be managed according to Kentucky statutes.

This page provides information and resources to assist university employees in the proper management of university records. Specific questions related to records retention or destruction may be directed to the records management listserv at uarp@lsv.uky.edu. 

The basic tool supporting records management at UK is the State University Model Records Retention Schedule (pdf). 

The retention schedule: 

• Organizes the records created and maintained by the University into a variety of record series 

• Allows for the records' management and appropriate retention and destruction 

• Numbers each record series using a Uxxxx number  

• Describes the types of records found in each record series 

• Denotes the retention period for each record series 

All state universities in Kentucky use the same records retention schedule. The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives is responsible for state government records management. As part of that responsibility, the State Archives and Records Commission hears and approves changes to the schedule. 

The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (or KDLA) provides all state agencies with a Records Destruction Certificate (RDC) template. UK employees should use the UK-specific RDC template (pdf) to document any set of records that have reached their retention and that need to be destroyed.  

The key pieces of information you'll need to record are: 

• Record series number and name from the Model Records Retention Schedule 
• Date span of records destroyed for each series
• Volume of records destroyed for each series (cubic feet, gigabytes, or number of electronic files) 
• Date of destruction 
• Method of destruction (usually shred or recycle)
• The name of your University of Kentucky unit(s) 
• The revision date of the current records retention schedule 
• You may include more than one record series on one certificate; each record series must include the date span and volume 

For additional guidance on filling out a Records Destruction Certificate, view our step-by-step instructions (pdf).

When complete, the Records Destruction Certificate should be emailed to uarp@lsv.uky.edu.  

Once you receive the signed certificate back from the Records Officer (usually in 1 or 2 days), records may be discarded, either through recycling (for non-confidential records) or through a locked recycling bin. For assistance with shredding and recycling, contact UK Recycling (859-257-8788 or recycle@uky.edu). 

Unlike traditional formats, web content is uniquely at-risk for deterioration or loss due to factors such as migration or technology changes. The University of Kentucky supports long-term accessibility of web content through web archiving, a process that creates captured versions of a website that can be accessed even after it is removed from the live web. 

These archived versions are hosted on the UK Libraries' Archive-It account and are currently limited by the vendor’s technology. Content creators should be aware of the risks to long-term accessibility based on these limitations and should plan web objects according to their risk tolerance. 

Best practices to decrease the risk of deterioration:

• Incorporate only standard file formats that have long-term support (PDF, .csv, .txt, .JPG, .TIFF, .WAV, etc.) 
• Limit complex or dynamic elements such as pop-ups, interactive maps, forms, or other input fields
• Limit use of vendor-controlled platforms such as Issuu

If interactive elements are necessary, data should be stored in a digital repository that can be transferred to the University Archives. 

For questions regarding the archivability of your website, please contact: uarp@lsv.uky.edu.