No record is forever, at least in terms of the Records Management facility. Very few records are retained beyond 15 years, and most retention periods are much shorter. Some records process into the College Archives (in Baker Library) for permanent historical retention, but most eventually end up being recycled or shredded. As discussed in the Retention section, this entire disposition process is governed by the Retention Schedule, negotiated between the Records Custodian, the Records Manager, and the Records Retention Committee. (See The Scheduling Process for more information.)

How a Retention Schedule works.

Upon cataloging, each accession is assigned a disposition date. This date is calculated automatically by adding the retention period for that series to the last date of the material in the new accession. For instance, a record with a last date of 6/30/2005, and a five year retention period, would be disposed on 6/30/2010.

Twice each year (beginning in July and January) Records Management conducts a round of disposition. In order to be eligible for disposition, a record accession must meet the following criteria:

• It's disposition date is past.
• The retention schedule for that series has been approved by the Records Custodian, the Records Manager, and the Records Retention Committee.
• No holds have been assigned to the accession.

If an accession meets all of these criteria the system will automatically make it eligible for disposition.

Notification and review.

During each disposition round the Record Custodian will receive a Blitz that details all material currently eligible for disposition. It will be sent with a return receipt attached, which is returned to Records Management to indicate the Records Custodian has read and been informed of the pending disposition.

Holds.

Circumstances may demand that a particular record accession must be held beyond it's scheduled disposition. This is normally due to litigation, an audit, or a pending project. Should placing a hold become necessary, the Records Custodian must contact Records Management either before a scheduled disposition, or before the end of the five day grace period (see note above). The accession can then be placed on a temporary hold, and the Records Custodian will be contacted again at the next scheduled disposition round to review the status of the material.

Records Management asks that material only be placed on hold for valid and specific administrative reasons. It is important from a legal standpoint, should Dartmouth's retention practices ever be challenged, that the institution can document a high level of consistency in applying disposition. If a specific reason cannot be found for holding a particular accession, and the Records Custodian is still not comfortable with the disposition, then that may indicate that the retention period needs to be revisited and extended.

Updating the computer catalog after disposition.

The final step in this process is to update the Records Management computer system to reflect the disposed material. Even though material may process out of the facility, it remains in the data system, flagged as disposed. This means that Records Management can tell you not only what is currently in storage, but also all files which have been disposed. (The exception to this are those records disposed before the digital tracking system was adopted in June of 1994. Box and File data on those records was not retained.)

Recycling commitment.

Records Management has a commitment to ensure that all possible record material is recycled upon disposition. The program works closely with Dartmouth Recycles, as well as third party vendors to ensure that wherever possible all paper is diverted from overcrowded landfills.