Records will be designated either “Transfer to Archives for Review” or “Archival” on a Records Retention Schedule. Records and information that fall into these categories will be reviewed by the University Archivist who will determine whether to bring them into the Archival collection of the UW. If the Archivist does not decide to accept specific records, regardless of their designation, the records should be shredded, recycled, or deleted at the end of their retention period.
Records which are identified as archival, and have met their retention period, should be transferred to the University Archives. When transferring records directly to the University Archives it is best to contact the University Archivist, John Bolcer, to discuss initial appraisal. The Archives requires submission of a records transfer list using the spreadsheet template posted on the Special Collections website. Once you have completed the form, you can contact the Archivist to arrange for the physical or electronic transfer.
If records are stored at the University Records Center and their retention period has ended, they will be transferred to the University Archives once your office has signed off on your Disposition Notification.
The University Archives serves as the central and final repository for the historical records of all aspects of the University of Washington community. It appraises, describes, preserves, and makes accessible a wide range of primary source material relating to the administrative, academic, legal, fiscal, social, and cultural interaction of individuals, departments, and programs of the University since 1861. The University Archives is part of Special Collections, located in the Suzzallo-Allen Libraries.
Note: Records deemed archival that have been stored in UW-IT's Document Management System (DMS), DocFinity, and have met their retention period do not need to be manually transferred to the Archives. DocFinity is configured to flag potentially archival/archival records and the archival value of the record will be reviewed internally at the time of disposition. If considered archival at that time these records will be handed over to the Archives via electronic transfer.
Be aware that all records pertaining to ongoing or pending audits, lawsuits (or even reasonably anticipated lawsuits), litigation holds or public disclosure proceedings must not be destroyed, damaged or altered until the issue is resolved and you are specifically advised that such records may be destroyed. For best practices and guidance on how to handle destruction holds, please see our Destruction Holds Resource.
Questions about holds? E-mail us.
