Document Retention and Disposal Guidelines - Policy Gateway

Certain documents and series of documents have a continuing value to the University while other documents should be disposed of when their administrative usefulness expires. The question is, what is a permanent document? What is a disposable document?

A permanent document is a paper, file or series of files:

essential to the conduct of continuing business of an office
which reflect the history of the office, its growth and change, its staff and programs, its policies, procedures, and relationships
which provide legal or testimonial evidence of actions taken or not taken
which establish fiscal responsibility, document costs, and expenses
which supports an administrative policy, program, or proposal
which record privileged, confidential, or personal information

Permanent documents may be divided into the following categories:

Correspondence of presidents, vice-presidents, deans, directors, chairmen, and heads of departments, which record policies, operations, activities of inter-institutional developments, and local, provincial, and federal relationships. Inter-office and interdepartmental correspondence and memoranda which communicates information about policy or operations or which reviews the actions of committees, departments, councils, or boards.
Minutes and appendices of the Board of Governors, the General Faculties Council, the Senate, and their designated committees. Also minutes and appendices originating from faculty and school councils, teaching departments and similar of student organizations
Annual reports of any authority, committee, department or officer of the University
Staff files including appointment and career files
Student academic achievement records. This includes student counseling records and student health records which are maintained only so long as the law requires
Printed and published documents which relate to the University’s functions. Calendars, programs, reports, newsletters, student

University community and the public with a record of the University’s philosophy, policies, personnel and performance.

A disposable document is a paper, file or series of related files which:

may be a duplicate of an official copy maintained permanently elsewhere.
may be a trivial document without any enduring value, for example, form letters, acknowledgements of publications, invitations.
may be general files with no direct relation to the University, for example publishers’ catalogues, organizational circulars.

Disposable documents may be divided into the following categories:

routine housekeeping correspondence of transmitted letters, thank you notes, announcements, circulars, notices (recommended retention – one year). General inquiries, third class mailings, advertising letters (recommended retention – one year)
copies of minutes and working papers of faculty and school councils (recommended retention – three years)
budget working papers and memoranda (recommended retention – three years). Copies of financial statements (recommended retention – five years). Copies of purchasing department records (recommended retention – two years)
annual reports received from other offices, departments, institutions, and organizations (recommended retention – two years). Copies of routine reports of other offices, institutions, or organizations (recommended retention – two years)
printed and published material not related to the University’s functions (recommended retention – two years).

Destruction of University documents requires prior written approval of the appropriate Vice-President, Dean, Director, Chairman, or other appropriate officers of the University, and the University Archivist.

Application for destruction may be appealed to the University Archives Committee if required.

Deans, directors, chairmen, and department heads shall designate a person in their Department to act as liaison officer with the University Archives to develop practical arrangements for the orderly transfer of University documents to the Archives at appropriate time intervals. The University Archivist will draft a written procedure to be followed, and the Departments’ approval will be sought in implementing the procedure.

Application for transfer may be appealed to the University Archives Committee if required.

Information on the status or value of documents may be obtained from the University Archivist.