Records Management — the department that oversees UTMB compliance with laws regarding which paper and electronic records to keep and which to destroy — is having an open house and contest to coincide with National Records and Information Management Month. 

The open house will be Wednesday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University Records Center, located in the Lipton Tea building, 4th Floor, 1902 Harborside Dr. Parking is free - go west on Harborside, turn right at 19th St. and park in the second ungated lot, across from the recycle barn. There will also be a shuttle service available that will run every fifteen minutes during the event from the John Sealy towers to the Lipton building.  Light food and refreshments will be served.

Visitors to the open house can enter a contest to win a new Apple iPad and tour the center's 18,508 square feet of storage space. The facility has room for about 40,000 boxes—records UTMB must keep according to the terms and conditions of the university’s certified Records Retention Schedule.
 
The department’s basic responsibilities include:
  • managing and overseeing UTMB’s compliance with state and federal laws and regulations relating to the preservation and destruction of electronic and paper information
  • responsibility for developing Records Retention Schedules which identify records created or received by UTMB
  • advising administration on the implementation of policies and procedures which promote adherence to these standards and minimizes risk.
Dusty Norwood, chief records management officer, said the open house also will help build awareness of the importance of electronic records, "We have to be as responsible with our electronic records — including e-mail — as we are with paper records.”
 
Retention of email is based on the content of the message and the retention schedule. For example:
  • messages pertaining to routine department operations must be retained for one year.
  • messages pertaining to the formulation, planning, implementation, interpretation, modification, or redefinition of the programs, services, or projects of a department — as well as the administrative regulations, policies, and procedures that govern it —must be retained for 3 years. 
“The Records Center works with departments to properly store necessary paper documents. But individual employees are responsible for managing their electronic records,” Norwood said.