 Decision best made on individual needs of your office  Assess:  Access frequency  Convenience value of records on hand  Weigh against:  Personnel time  Space costs

 1 st and most important step  Organize  Screen records and remove extra copies (reference material, duplicate copies)  Place in manila or accordion folders  Label each file folder  Place files in the box in their proper order

 To retire records to the Records Center you must use Records Center Boxes, labels and transmittals  Send to  (shipping department at SCC bookstore)  Delivery or pick up  These boxes are intended only for Records Center storage. Boxes for moving can be obtained from facilities

 Assembly instructions are provided with the boxes  Approx. 15” of letter-size material fit in one box  (2 boxes will fit one letter-size file drawer)  Approx. 12” of legal-size material fit in one box  (2 ½ boxes will fit one legal-size file drawer

 Boxes must be labeled and barcoded  Can consist of one or more record series  (same disposal date and type i.e. archival, essential)  Boxes do not have to be full to be retired to state records storage facility

 Preserve existing arrangement of files  Boxes designed to hold 35 pounds  Lid must close completely  Leave 1” of free space in box  Leave 4” of free space if you anticipate the volume to increase in the box (additional files)  Legal-size document face towards the right side of box  Letter-size documents face toward the front of the box (label end)  DO NOT PUT HANGING FILE FOLDERS INTO BOXES

 General Schedules for Washington State and Community Technical College General Schedules for Washington State and Community Technical College  Use the retention schedule to determine record series codes and retention periods  Only retire or archive records that are original documents or your department is responsible for the maintenance of the record(s)  original travel documents – Financial Services

 The Records Center recommends a box content list be completed for retired files  For each box complete a Records Storage Content form  Forms will not be accepted without a record series code and disposal date.  Note: Disposal dates are to be calculated from the date of the document, not the date that you retire or archive the record

 your completed Record Storage Content form to the Records Retention Officer  Records Officer will assign numbers to the forms and print them out in triplicate. You will be sent two copies of the form (pink and yellow )  Records Officer will prepare the barcodes and box labels

 Place the box label in the designated area on the front of the box  Tape the yellow copy of the records list to the inside of the lid  Double check the box label number and the bar code number on the yellow form match  Retain the pink copy for your records  Send to Records Officer when complete to schedule a pick up time