GETTING A GRIP ON DISPOSAL Carmela Gallo

Word origin of Disposal Disposal To dispose mid-14c., from Old.French. disposer (infl. by poser "to place"), from O.Fr. despondre, from Latin. disponere "put in order, arrange," from dis- "apart" + ponere "to put, place" Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Cite This Source

Disposal poser "to place” Semi- Active Active Inactive

Characteristics of an active record Use Active Records

2 Archives 3 1 Intermediate Storage Destroy Time expired Records Temporary Records Permanent Records UOM RDA Disposal of Inactive Records

Procedures If NAP - no need to document disposal If temporary record and not time expired – records need to be boxed, listed, put a destruction date on box - Hold in unit. If temporary and time expired – Fill in destruction form and get sign off from a delegate 2 and then place in Confidential waste bin. If permanent contact Records Services Process of 1) filling in item list 2) removing of metal clip etc 3) transferring to Records Services

Records Destruction List

Reactive Versus Proactive

“We noticed floors bowing under the excess weight to the extent that the tops of file cabinets were noticeably not level through the storage area”

“Narrow aisles due to file cabinet placement may also impede employees from exiting file storage areas in case of emergency or crisis situations."

A Reactive Response “ We are running out of room. There are so many records in the storeroom, it is hard to move in there. We got to get rid of them ” “ Our unit is relocating in another months time and we got to get rid of the hardcopy records before we move. There is no space in the new building” “A clean up needs to be done on the shared drive there are so many documents that I can’t find what I am looking for. Can we just delete the stuff we no longer use?

A Proactive response “ Every January when the campus is quiet, I do some records disposal. If I didn’t do this, I would not be able to cope with the large volumes of records generated by students from year to year.” Student Centre Employee “ Our unit has decided to no longer print out electronic records instead we want to go fully electronic. We will be consulting Records Services to help us” “Before I left the university, I made sure that my records were properly disposed of.” Ex-employee

Disposal in an Electronic World

If the records are in TRIM, record disposal is taken care for you Shared drives are the units responsibility Inboxes are individual responsibility

E-waste – What is it?

E-waste – Some important questions QUESTION: Are there records on the hardware or digital media? ANSWER:If there are – are they duplicated over other sources so that these are copies? Or are they the only version that exists? If they are copies, then you can destroy the media under NAP. (while still making sure that they’re destroyed securely – see below) If they are the only version then QUESTION Are the records on the hardware or digital media due to be destroyed under the UoM RDA? ANSWER If yes, then you should list them as you always do on a destruction list, and then destroy securely. If not, then they must be migrated onto another system, such as TRIM or a shared drive (and talk to Records Services about how we can help with this). Migration is a really good option if the media is becoming obsolete and the r records must be retained long term. Remember – records retention includes the ability to access the record as well as still having it – and something on a 5 ¼ inch floppy disk can’t be said to be accessible.

Physically destroying eWaste The university is currently in the process of creating a tender for eWaste services. This will cover the destruction of hardware and peripherals. If you have computers or other hardware to dispose of, you should contact ITS. Remember – if you are destroying hardware, it is best if the data on the hardware has already been destroyed before being handed over for eWaste. While it is expected that the university’s eWaste suppliers will degauss hardware (that is, use strong magnetic fields to destroy all data on the hardware) proactively ensuring that all data has been destroyed before it’s picked up is the best option. The usual confidential waste bins will accept small amounts of digital media, but this is not their preferred solution. At the moment internal discussions are taking place to centralise the collection of digital media for destruction and this will, hopefully, allow for bulk destruction – which will mean that our digital media has a better chance of being recycled and not just binned following shredding.

Self analysis How do external and internal documents move around the unit and or organisation? Who captures what and when? Do you know if the records you /your unit create are temporary and / or permanent records? What procedures will you establish to ensure active records are easily accessible? How can you become proactive when it comes to disposal?

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