Establishing Ownership and Custodianship of Records

  • Records associated with an academic program transferring to another campus location will follow the program if they have an active business purpose. Representatives from the program will review records using the General Records Retention Schedule to determine if records are still needed at the new location; if they have met their retention and can be destroyed; if they will be transferred to Penn State’s Records Center for the remainder of their retention period; or if they should be reviewed for transfer to the University Archives.
  • Record creators or representatives from the creating office are responsible for reviewing their records for appropriate disposition. If the records have been separated from their original office and/or orphaned, it is recommended that someone familiar with those records should complete the review. EXAMPLE: Orphaned financial records should be reviewed by individuals that handle those specific financial records.

    Any orphaned records identified in your area should be reported to leadership so that someone can be assigned to review them as soon as possible.
     
  • Any records deemed to be "Archival," meaning the records are designated in the General Retention Schedule as having a disposition method of “Transfer to Archives” or “Review by Archives” or “PERMANENT in Archives” may be considered for transfer. Please refer to the University Archives’ webpage with campus closure guidelines for offices for more information on the archiving process.