Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

Guidelines for Weeding

Weeding files is the activity of removing documents that are no longer needed. Regular annual or every other year weeding of the whole system is usually necessary to systematically remove aging documents.

Note: Before weeding check the campus Policy on Records Management to be sure whether or not your department is the official ‘Office of Record’ for a particular record series.

Records to be Weeded There are three categories of non-current records to be weeded from files:

1. Papers that need to be kept as a short-term record, but have no enduring value to the University. These can and should be destroyed as a standard filing maintenance procedure.
   Items of this sort are:
   • All blank forms and unused printed or duplicated materials
   • All other duplicate materials: keep only the original copy and annotated copies
   • Papers, reports, work papers and drafts, which have been published.
   • Records from other departments sent for informational purposes.
   
   
   
2. Classes of documents which under retention schedules are to be held for a specific period, then destroyed. These should be removed, labeled, and sent to records storage.
   
   
3. Documents that due to historical significance are designated for permanent retention. These should be transferred to the University Archives, with the exception of those classes of documents scheduled for permanent retention in an official ‘Office of Record’.

***Note: Email is a form of correspondence and needs to be treated as such.

If there are questions about records not listed in the ‘Policy’ or questions about the retention or disposal of specific record series, please check the retention schedules for your department or telephone the Archivist at x56290.

*** When In Doubt, Do Not Throw It Out! Contact the Archivist ***

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Weeding | Transfer Procedures | Transmittal form | Records Management Policy