Records Retention & Disposition Schedule

Records Retention & Disposition Schedule

The State Archivist creates Records Retention Schedules, published as Oregon Administrative Rules, giving state and local agencies the lawful authority to destroy or otherwise dispose of commonly occurring public records, as defined in ORS 192.005.

Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) Division 166, Chapter 450 contains the Records Retention Schedule for Oregon Community Colleges, which gives Lane Community College the authority to lawfully dispose of records.

Understanding the Schedule: About the Schedule

**To find departments or document types, use the Ctr + F keys or the F3 key to search for keywords within the retention schedule.

Minimum Retentions: According to state administrative rules, the retention periods established in this schedule are 'minimum' retentions. This means that the records must be kept for at least as long as the stated retentions. The retentions are not 'maximum' retentions and the records may be kept longer than the stated retention period if necessary. If you wish to keep records longer than the stated retention period, consult the college Archivist.

Official / Record Copy: Retention periods, as specified in the records retention schedule, apply to the record or official copy only. Typically, there will be only one record copy which will be retained by the department or person who created the record. For example, Human Resources creates and retains custody of the official copy of personnel records. Departments should communicate with Human Resources about retention and disposition of personnel records kept in departmental files.

Responsible Unit: A records retention schedule typically indicates which office or department is responsible for keeping the record copy. The department or person who created the records will generally be responsible for keeping the records; however, that responsibility may be assigned to another department by mutual agreement. For example, college finance typically retains the record copy of financial records, even though those records may originate with another department or office and multiple copies of the record may exist. 

Applying the Schedule: The schedule lists and describes records that community colleges may create and maintain. It is a general schedule that applies to all Oregon community colleges, which have a wide range of organizational models and procedures. 

If a department has records that are listed in the schedule, then those records are governed by the schedule. However, the schedule does not require certain record keeping practices, and it should not be assumed that the listed records must be created and maintained. 

Furthermore, the schedule does not indicate or prescribe a certain format or media (paper, microfilm, electronic records, optical disks, photographs, audio and video recordings, etc.) The schedule applies to records and the information they contain regardless of format.

The retention periods listed in the schedule refer only to the official or record copy of the document. No authorization for destruction of reference or convenience copies is required.