Records Management

Background

BGSU’s records management program provides assistance and practical strategies for university offices in the proper management of their records, regardless of format (paper, electronic, microform, etc.). Records management staff creates and implements a General Records Retention Schedule for the BGSU campus, and, when necessary, unit-specific records retention schedules.  These schedules identify the different types of records created by the office and how long each record series needs to be kept. The program also provides information on state and federal record keeping requirements, and what offices need to do to ensure they are in compliance with applicable laws. In addition, the program provides storage for inactive records, as well as secure records destruction.

Mission

In compliance with Section 149.33 of the Ohio Revised Code, Bowling Green State University, by the authority of its Board of Trustees, has established a records management program under the jurisdiction of the Center for Archival Collections for the purpose of insuring proper scheduling, storage, and disposal of university records. The program is designed:

• To reduce costs and increase efficiency at BGSU through the systematic control of the creation, maintenance, and disposal of records (both paper and electronic)

• To provide BGSU offices with a centralized records storage facility for their inactive records and to decrease the amount of office space being used to store non-current records

• To assist university offices in the proper identification, management and disposition of their active and inactive records 

• To retain information for an appropriate period to meet its legal, financial, administrative, research, and historical needs

• To increase employee awareness on liability, privacy issues, regulatory compliance, cost effective information management, efficiency issues, and university history

• To effectively deliver information to internal, (faculty, staff, and students), and external users, (general public, partner institutions, etc.) in a timely fashion

• To ensure the permanent preservation of historically significant materials 

Information about Records

The BGSU Records Management program uses the Inter-University Council of Ohio's Model Records Retention Schedule as the basis for its general and unit-specific retention schedules.  There are many laws and regulations as well that govern the use, retention, and disposal of BGSU records.  Many of these laws are public records laws, since records created by BGSU employees are considered public records and subject to disclosure requirements.