Records Management: Your Role and Responsibilities

Learn about your role and responsibilities in managing UCSD administrative records.

All employees at UCSD or UCSD Medical Center who handle administrative records are required to understand and follow applicable policies and laws. Administrative records may appear in a variety of formats, including paper and electronic.

Roles and responsibilities for records management include:

• Managers and supervisors have responsibility as outlined in the Handbook of Administrative Responsibilities (PDF).
• Record proprietors determine which records will be created, gathered, and maintained, and produce records for audit and other purposes. Records proprietors may be the manager of an operational unit. For large enterprise records repositories or multiple record filing systems, there may be more than one proprietor.
• Record custodians maintain, secure, and care for records in accordance with University Records Management Program guidelines. This individual is the manager of the unit designated by the record proprietor as custodian. In some cases the record proprietor and record custodian may be the same person, or there may be more than one custodian.
• Local records management coordinators create, publish, and maintain local record-retention schedules. The coordinator may propose records to include in the schedules, convey the interests of the campus to the University Records Management Committee, and serve as a local resource for retention questions.
• The university archivist preserves records that have value to the university or the research community because they reflect historical events or document University history. This includes permanent maintenance of records that are designated for permanent retention with instructions to "transfer to University Archives."

Record management training

To better understand your role in handling UCSD records, search for these training classes on UC Learning:

• Basic Elements of Records Management: What are the "musts" in managing records?
• Confidentiality of Records: Privacy/ Access/ The Law: What should you do if you're asked to release a university or student record?
• Basic Elements of Filing Systems: How do your paper and electronic filing systems measure up?

Resources and background information

• Records Disposition Schedules Manual (PDF) (searchable database)
• UCSD Archives (website)
• UC Business and Finance Bulletin RMP-1 (PDF)

The goal of the Records Management Program at UCSD is to ensure that administrative records are appropriately managed, preserved, secured, and can be retrieved as needed. Policy & Records Administration coordinates the campus program and provides advice on these issues.