{"id":6352,"date":"2017-04-20T13:17:23","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T18:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=6352"},"modified":"2017-04-27T17:01:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T21:01:27","slug":"get-recd-the-difference-between-archiving-and-records-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=6352","title":{"rendered":"Get Rec\u2019d: The Difference Between Archiving and Records Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Samara Carter, University Records Manager.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>

Box for Records Management. The labels indicate the types of materials included in the box (i.e. prospective student sign-in sheets, payment sheets, copies of graduation lists). This photo was taken by Nick Welsh, Records Management Specialist, in the warehouse which is separate space from the SCRC stacks containing rare books and archival materials.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI have stuff for archiving.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word <\/span>archiving <\/span><\/i>gets used interchangeably day in and day out by university offices wanting to submit records to University Archives\u00a0or URM (University Records Management), both housed in Special Collections Research Center (SCRC). Sometimes departments have photographs or publications for University Archives, sometimes departments have financial documents that need to be stored for a few years before they can be destroyed. While both of our units\u00a0work in tandem to oversee Masons\u2019 records, <\/span>archiving<\/span><\/i> is best applied as a term when speaking about historical and\/or permanent records.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is that?<\/p>\n

An archive is a repository for items that need to be maintained for an undefined period of time, generally forever. University Archives\u00a0houses collections with the intention of tending to them in perpetuity for the purpose of making them available for research and posterity, including documenting the history of George Mason. URM houses public records with the intention of destroying them at a later date.<\/p>\n

Records fall into three categories here at Mason:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Historical (permanent) <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Public (permanent) <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Public (temporary) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    However, all records have a lifecycle that begin the exact same way – a document of some format or another is created and bam – a record is born! Along the lifecycle of a record, though, the path diverges towards two choices: permanent retention or destruction.<\/p>\n