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STATEMENT OF AUTHORITY

As stated in the OSU Operating Manual, Section IX1:

  • "The Office of University Archives will provide for the selection, preservation and research use of records which 1. Document the origin, development, and operation of University Offices; 2. Relate the roles of the faculty and staff and/ or student organizations to the operational activities of the University or campus life."
  • "The Office of University Archives will serve as the depository of records after their current administrative, fiscal or legal values have expired; this is not the function of other University offices....Records not on a Records Retention and Disposition Schedule may not be discarded until a records appraisal has been made by the University Archivist."

The University Archives develops the general schedules for retention and disposition of university records common to many offices and creates schedules for records unique to campus offices.

The Ohio Revised Code defines records as "...any document, device, or item, regardless of physical form or characteristic, created or received by or coming under the jurisdiction of any public office of the state or its political subdivisions, which serves to document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the office." (Section 149.011)

1Section IX of the OSU Operating Manual had its origins in 1965 and 1966:

  • 1965: The Trustees approved the hiring of OSU's first archivist, Bruce Harding, and Secretary of the Board of Trustees John Mount announced the appointment and stated that Harding was to provide leadership for "...the development of a program which is designed to produce an effective system for the creation,use, maintenance, and disposition of University records..."
  • 1966: John Mount as the official records officer of OSU, chaired the Archives Advisory Committee that represented the financial, academic and administrative leadership of the University. That Committee requested the University Archivist "...to prepare a chapter for the 'Procedures Manual' and submit it to the Committee members for consideration. The concept of using 'Schedules of Records Retention and Disposition' was approved and the Archivist is to include the procedure for their development in the procedures manual." By April of 1967 Section IX had been written, approved, and distributed to all units of the University.