Records Coordinators -
Departmental Liaisons to the Records Program
The Records and Information Management Program calls for the appointment of staff across campus to assist in the use of the Schedules. These people are the Records Coordinators (RC's). Records Coordinators are intended to serve as liaisons to the Records Manager. Ideally, all offices and divisions of ISU will appoint at least one person to be a Records Coordinator. These people serve as the primary departmental contact with the University Records Manager, as such, they should be familiar with the operations of the department or college they serve.
Records Coordinators become familiar with the primary "instructional" document of the ISU RIM Program, the ISU Records Retention Schedules. (This document is in review for release campus-wide during Fall Semester 2005). To this end, RC's are intended to become knowledgeable about the recordkeeping rules and procedures that apply to their work area. They are also intended to make their co-workers (including faculty) aware of appropriate retention periods (destruction dates) and to answer questions about records, referring to the Records Manager as needed.
Qualifications for Records Coordinator
- Permanent employees (no students or temporaries, please)
- Have knowledge of the work and responsibilities of their assigned department or area(s)
- Be authorized to work with the records of all personnel (staff and faculty) in their area
Responsibilities and Authority
Records Coordinators are authorized by Dean, Department Chair or Manager to:
- Be responsible for the area's records, regardless of who creates or maintains them (Within the limits of the dean/chair/manager's authority),
- Survey the records created and maintained within their assigned area,
- Request destruction approval for records as they reach the end of their retention, and
- Request transfer approval to send records to either University Archives (permanent records) or the Records Center (temporary records)
Beginning the summer of 2005, ISU's Records Center will open to receive temporary records awaiting the end of their retention period. Temporary records include those associated with post-graduate licensure requests, patient records from campus clinics, and financial records, etc. that exceed a department's storage capacity. Records Coordinators will be authorized to make transfers of records to this facility, as well as to request retrievals of stored records across time.
How Many RC's Do You Need?
Academic Offices -
Deans should determine if they prefer to have their associate or assistant deans coordinating records responsibilities for their college, or have their department chairs be responsibility for the records created within their departments. This is a matter entirely at the dean's discretion. Deans should direct their department chairs to complete the appointment form, if you choose the department-level option. All deans should have an RC who is responsible for the records created within their immediate office. It is normal to have additional RC's for special functions (e.g., graduate student records within the College of Business). If you are uncertain whether all departments within your college have RC's, please contact Robin Stanger at 282-3249 or at stanrobi@isu.edu.
Non-Academic or Business Offices -
Vice Presidents may decide they prefer to have their own staff manage the records of their departments. However, at present, department heads have been carrying the responsibility for the records created within their departments. Not all business or non-academic programmatic offices of the University have appointed RC's Each department head should appoint a RC to manage the records created in their immediate office, but having multiple RC's is encouraged, so that each specialized area of operations has a knowledgeable person caring for its records. If you are uncertain whether all departments within your division have appointed RC's, please contact Robin Stanger at 282-3249 or at stanrobi@isu.edu.
How to Appoint Records Coordinators
The form for appointing Records Coordinators is available under FORMS on this web site. Please complete the entire form, especially the area that asks for the records or office area/function for which the RC will be responsible. This is especially important where one manager will have multiple RC's handling different records.