Storage of temporary records

Temporary records should be stored in your systems, within Faculty or Chancellery work units, or at offsite storage until they are time expired, then they can be lawfully destroyed.

Other disposal actions

Retaining and storing your records is one key disposal action for University records. Depending on the type of records you manage, you may also need to destroy or transfer records.

Storing digital records

Managed digital records

Managed records, that is, digital records which are appropriately stored within Content Manager, the University’s enterprise recordkeeping system, or within a Records Managed SharePoint (RMSP) site will already have been assigned the required retention period as outlined in the University Records Retention and Disposal Authority (RDA).

You will not need to concern yourself with the retention and storage of digital records held in these systems.

Unmanaged digital records

Unmanaged records, that is, records which are stored without records management controls in shared/network drives or non-RMSP sites, will not have automated records retention in place.

You will need to manually review records to assess whether the records have been kept for their required retention period as outlined in the University Records RDA. When the destruction year has been reached, then the records will be eligible for deletion. See Destruction of temporary records.

Important: Digital records classed as permanent in the University RDA must be transferred to Records & Information (R&I) once business use concludes. See Transfer of permanent records.

Storing hardcopy records

On campus storage

If you still need to regularly access the hardcopy records to support business, then ideally you should store them within your Faculty or Chancellery work unit.

To store records appropriately, work units should:

  1. Source some appropriate boxes (you can reuse existing boxes, as long as they are still durable)
  2. Pack the records into boxes, so that records with the same/similar destruction dates are together. Destruction dates are the date when records can be legally destroyed according to the University Records RDA. (To calculate the Destruction Date, add the End Date of the latest record in the box, to the retention period specified in the RDA, then round up to 1 January of the following year).
  3. Complete a Box Listing for each box of records and place a printed copy of the listing inside the box.
  4. Clearly label each box with the destruction date.
  5. Store the records in available areas within the work unit until they are time-expired.
  6. When the destruction year has been reached, complete the process for destroying hardcopy records. See Destruction of temporary records.

Offsite storage

Where local storage is unavailable in your work unit,  we will help arrange for you to store the records offsite, with our secondary storage provider – Grace Records Management.

Follow these steps for preparing temporary hardcopy records for offsite storage:

  1. Contact us so that a member of our team can be assigned to work with you: records-info@unimelb.edu.au. We will provide guidance throughout the preparation process.
  2. Purchase appropriate boxes. (We can suggest strong and durable boxes, if required).
  3. Pack the boxes so that records with the same/similar destruction dates are together. (To calculate the Destruction Date, add the End Date of the latest record in the box, to the retention period specified in the RDA, then round up to 1 January of the following year).
  4. Using the Records Listing template, complete a list of the records contained in each box, including the disposal class applicable to each record.
  5. Write the box number (eg, '2021/1BOX1') on the box with a dark coloured marker: Image of document box with label and number
  6. Affix barcode labels to each box and enter the barcode numbers in the Records Listing. (We will arrange for the labels to be delivered to you)
  7. Optional step, we may arrange a site visit to inspect that the records have been prepared and packed appropriately.
  8. Move boxes to appropriate pick up location. (We will arrange for the boxes to be collected).
  9. When the destruction year has been reached, work with us to complete the process for destroying hardcopy records. See Destruction of temporary records.

Important: Hardcopy records classed as permanent in the University RDA must be transferred to R&I once business use concludes. See Transfer of permanent records.

Accessing records held in offsite storage

If you need to access records held in offsite storage, you can send a request to us: records-info@unimelb.edu.au. Turn around times are a generally a few business days, however rush orders can also be placed.

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