In-house Services

Before your work-related documents and media are due for submitting to the University Archive, there are at least two related tasks that must be performed by all colleagues: proper file management and (temporary) storage in the context of retention periods. We offer advise on these topics to prevent any losses in these administrative proceses, which generally last over several years before the records of your individual hard work are finally able to rest safely in our archival stacks.

File management of analog and digital documents and media is a central part of administrative work. Due to changes of the occupational profile of administrative jobs as well as technological developments over the years there may be different approaches to this allegedly outdated task. Understandably, administrative work does not look like in Ruhr University's beginning, where documents were created by typewriter, sent by mainly postal correspondence and managed by an official filing department.

Even though the contemporary situation in our offices looks differently do mind that the same or similar rules regarding file management are still valid – both for the analogue as well as the digital spheres.

The Landesarchiv NRW (Federal Archive of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia) created short video tutorials on this and other relvant topics (in German):

• Welche Unterlagen kommen in die Akte? (What does a File consist of?)
• Z. D. A. = Zu den Akten (Closing a File/Ad acta)
• Datenschutz und Löschvorgaben – darf das in die Akte? (Data Protection and Policies on Deleting Data vs. Filing Data)
• Kurzvideo Datenschutz (Data Protection in a Nutshell)

Before your work-related documents and media are due for submitting to the University Archive, there are at least two related duties that must be assumed by all colleagues: proper file management and (temporary) storage in the context of retention periods. We offer advise on these topics to prevent any losses in these administrative proceses, which generally last over several years before the records of your individual hard work are finally able to rest safely in our archival stacks.

Storage is related to the archival term of retention periods. In a way, this follows up to the topic of file management.

Beginning with the time your files are no longer required for administrative purposes (ad acta) but before your documents and media is to be submitted to the University Archive it is necessary for you to ensure their storage locally for a specific amount of time. Firstly, this ensures that closed files are still directly accessible by their responsible department, if needed.

Please note: All documents and media that are created by Ruhr University's administration belong to the university! This pertains to all parts of the university such as the (central) administration, institutions, faculties and institutes as well as academic chairs. Destruction of documents/files/data is only allowed by observing all university and legal policies, which are outlined here.

This above-mentioned aspect is called ‘retention period’. Retention periods are regulated by a university decree (“Richtlinien der Kanzlerin und des Rektors über Aufbewahrung, Aussonderung, Archivierung und Vernichtung von Akten", in German). The “Richtlinie“ addresses many different media that regularly appear in university administration and states their respective retention period’s length. Of course, not all formats can be addressed by this. When in doubt, do contact us and together we will determinefor how long you data is to be stored.

What's next:

When retention periods for you documents are soon to run out or have already expired, the process continues with the steps: selection for discarding and transfer of files (see following topics).

After the respective storage periods has expired, the University Archive decides on the eligibility of the files for either submission or destruction.

Transfer:

To prepare all further steps, a list of the files to be transferred must be made, which includes the following data of each file, resp. file folder:

• the serial number of the file
• a short title (e.g. the file folder’s spine label),
• the duration (years of the oldest and the most recent document)
• if applicable, your file number

On the one hand, this list is useful for sifting through the files and on the other hand, it can be used as the the basis for a transfer list for the University Archive. In any case, the University Archives will provide a transfer list, which contains our accession number and the (transfer) number of each unit, so that the whereabouts or destruction of the records may be traced at any time.

Depending on the amount of the files which are to be submitted, archive staff is able to collect the files from you in the case of smaller quantities. For larger amounts the submitter has to organize transport service themselves. We therefore recommend checking your files for eligibility for submission on a regular basis in order to prevent their accumulation. Transfer of smaller quantities can be offered expeditiously and without further ado by the University Archive.

Destruction:

After approval for destruction has been given by the University Archive, you may dispose of them properly. Keep in mind that files containing personal or confidential information must be disposed of in an appropriately secure manner. For further information regarding proper disposal and destruction, please refer to the RUB Office for Information Security's (Stabsstelle für Informationssicherheit) website.

For larger quantities of files to be destroyed, you will find further information, for example, about the delivery and collection of security containers (240 and 450 l) on the website of the Department for Disposal of the RUB Office of Workplace Safety and Environmental Protection (Sachgebiet Entsorgung der Stabsstelle Arbeitssicherheit und Umweltschutz).

Transferred files are recorded, indexed and stored in a secure manner.

During the process of recording and indexing, the files are first given comprehensive and meaningful titles with references to interesting details. In the course of this work, the correspondingly detailed inventory (“Findbuch”) is created, of which the submitter receives a copy upon request. The inventory also lists the corresponding retention periods of the records, for example if they contain personal data. By default, all files have a retention period of at least 30 years (after the file was closed). Finally, conservational measurements are carried out, including the demetallization and repacking of the files in age-resistant archival folders, all while retaining the original internal order of the records.

Regardless of the retention periods, the documents are available to you as the submitter without restriction, if necessary they may also temporarily returned to you, if official requests make this necessary.

You are welcome to use our in-house services and are invited as users of the University Archive itself as well. We are happy to provide you with information on the history of RUB, grant access to documents available for research in our reading room, and to conduct guided tours and seminars in the context of our archive – whether in connection with your work or other research interests.