Managing Records

Disposing of Records

Disposition is the final action in the records lifecycle and occurs when a record satisfies its retention period as noted on a retention schedule. You can learn more in our publication, The Records Lifecycle.

Disposition means the disposal of a record by (1) destruction, (2) transfer to an archival repository, or (3) transfer to another government or organization.

Procedures

The State Archives has statutory authority to appraise state agency and local government records. The appraisal process normally starts with retention scheduling, when State Archives staff determine whether the records in question require an archival appraisal. If an appraisal is warranted, Archives staff consult with the records owner and apply a defined set of criteria to ensure that appraisal decisions are appropriate and consistent. These criteria include record documenting  

• determining what records you can legally discard through the records retention and disposition process; 
• ensuring that historical records are properly preserved; 
• improving how you organize, retrieve, and control active records through proper files management;  
• helping to determine storage needs; and 

There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to store records offsite in commercial storage or to set up your own inactive records storage area:

Advantages to Microfilming Records

• are accessed frequently 
• need to be accessed by multiple people at the same time 
• need to be accessed by people in multiple locations 
• have long retention periods (over ten years)  

In many ways, using a LAN to categorize your records is like filing paper documents in a filing cabinet. Staff organize records in a LAN by creating file folders and sorting documents between them. As each folder can contain additional folders, files can be sorted into either broad or specific categories (e.g., “contracts” versus “contracts/HVAC/2021”).