Procedures and Services

Procedures & Services

Selecting Records

Only the official copy of inactive records should be sent to the Archives for storage. Consult with the Archivist and refer to the State Retention Schedule for Community Colleges, OAR-166-450 for guidance in selecting and grouping records for storage.

These types of questions are often asked when selecting records for storage:

  • How often do I need to refer to the records?
  • What would be the consequences if the records no longer existed?
  • Is access to the records restricted by confidentiality and privacy concerns?
  • Do the records exist in another form (paper, electronic)?

Retrieving Records

Departments or offices that have stored records in the Archives may need to recall a file or group of files from storage. Files may be retrieved temporarily and later returned to storage or permanently removed from storage and returned to the physical custody of the creating department.

Authority to request records: Because legal custody of the records temporarily stored in the Archives remains with the office or department that created the records, access to records in storage is limited to the creating department or the Archives staff. Retrieval requests from other departments or persons will be referred to the creating department for authorization.

Procedures:

  • Contact the Archives by telephone 541-463-3450 or by email archives@lanecc.edu to request records.
  • Refer to the Transmittal Form / Contents List and give the archivist the following information:
    • Department or office name
    • Series title
    • Description of records to be retrieved (folder label, file name, file number)
    • Accession number
    • Box number
  • The Archives staff will deliver the records to the requesting department.
  • Contact the Archives staff to return the records to storage.
  • If a department decides not to return a file to storage, notify the Archives staff so that the transmittal form's content list can be updated to reflect the change.

Destroying Records

OAR 166-30 -060(2) states that "Records which are confidential by law ... must be destroyed by shredding, pulping, or incineration" and outlines specific guidelines designed to ensure the confidential destruction of records.The Archives ensures that confidentiality is protected from the time the records leave storage until the time they are destroyed.

Criteria: Records are ready for destruction if they have met the legally required retention as defined by the Records Retention Schedule, and they are not involved in any ongoing audit, litigation, or administrative action. 

Destruction date: The destruction date is determined at the time the records are transferred to storage in the Archives and is calculated according to the Records Retention Schedule. 

Authority to destroy records: The Archives will ask the creating department or office to authorize destruction of records when the retention period has been satisfied. The department should carefully review the authorization to make sure the records are no longer needed for audit, legal, administrative, or research purposes.

Records that have met their retention requirement and are scheduled for destruction will be returned to the creating department if the department does not sign and return the authorization form and no special arrangements have been made for extending the retention period.

Non-record Material: Non-record materials are records which are not the official copy. They may be destroyed without reference to the provisions of the records retention schedule. Non-record material which is confidential must be shredded, pulped, or incinerated. If records are not confidential, they may be recycled or disposed of as trash.