Records Management Guidance

The following guidance documents on how to set up records management practices in your area are available to download. They are grouped under four headings:

Introductory guidance
General guidance
Technical 'how to' guidance
Electronic records guidance
Retention schedules
Records retention frequently asked questions

You may find it useful to start by reading the first guidance sheet:

Records management: introduction and route map

Links to external records management guidance

In this section:

Introductory guidance

General guidance

Disposing of records
Every day records management: interim best practice
Home working
Managing email
Storage standards for records
Records management checklist for when staff leave:
- Staff checklist
- Managers checklist
Chair committee records
Programme specification documents

Technical 'how to' guidance

Guidance on identifying records holding potential archive value is available from the Edinburgh University Archives. The following documents are of particular relevance:

Electronic records guidance

External records management guidance

The following external links are to records management guidance published by other organisations.

National Archives records management pages:
- Sampling techniques - pdf

Retention schedules

Guidance on identifying records holding potential archive value is available from the Edinburgh University Archives. The following documents are of particular relevance:

Retention schedules published by external organisations

King's College London has published a records management fact sheet on managing academic research records. The fact sheet includes retention guidance drawn from the major research councils.

Academic research records management (external link to King's College London website)

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has also published guidance on managing research records. It provides guidance on the management, storage, retention and disposal of research records, including the record keeping requirements of the main research funders.

Research records management

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has conducted an extensive project identifying the high-level functions and activities carried out by universities, and making some recommendations on retention periods for the records arising from these. Although the guidance requires customisation in recognition of local circumstances, it can be a useful starting point for thinking about suitable retention periods.

High level retention guidance from JISC

Please note that the Records Management Section is not responsible for the content of external guidance.

The guidance sheets are available as Word documents and Adobe PDF. If you do not already have an Adobe Acrobat reader you can download one free from the Adobe web site.

Adobe web site.

Further help and advice on Records Management is available by contacting the Records Management Section.

Records management section contacts.

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