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 on April 17, to coincide withNational Records and Information Management Month.

The open house will be 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 on the east side of the building by the loading dock area. 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.
 
Visitors to the open house can see the 18,508 square feet of storage space for paper documents at the facility, which opened in 1997. The facility has room for about 40,000 boxes and there are about 30,000 there at any time —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.
In addition to refreshments, visitors to the Open House can pick up more information on how to properly manage their paper and electronic records.
 
“The Records Center works with departments to properly store necessary paper documents. But individual employees are responsible for managing their electronic records,” Norwood said.
 
For more information on the importance of records management, please watch the video for an important message from Executive Vice President and Chief Business and Finance Officer William Elger.