Standard Procedures

Records Schedule

As of January 2018, records must be evaluated or re-evaluated using the UNC System-Wide General Schedule, authorized by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. Please call Anna Smith at ext. 3137 with any questions about the schedule.  The UNC System General Schedule takes precedent over any internally-created schedule.

Eligibility for Transfer to the University Records Center

Using the UNC System-Wide General Schedule, check the Disposition Instructions for the series specific to your record type in order to determine eligibility for transfer. Records are usually held in the originating office at least one calendar year from the latest date of records. Our office will double-check records for transfer eligibility. 

Storage Boxes

Estimate the number of boxes needed for transfer. Storage boxes are one cubic foot in size. Call Anna Smith at x3137 to request boxes and box labels.  While boxes are provided free of charge to campus units, they will no longer be delivered to offices.  Boxes must be picked up by the requesting office.

Please fill out the box labels legibly.  

Required Forms

One Records Transfer Form is required for each transfer.  Each transfer also requires a Box Contents Form(s).   The completed paperwork should be sent to the University Records Center through campus mail or as email attachments (smithal25@appstate.edu).  We will send back a pink receipt copy with an added accession number, location, and changes to the original form as needed.

Delivery and Storage

Campus units will need to arrange for the delivery of their boxes to the University Records Center. 

Our process is as follows: 

  • retrieve the physical records
  • assign an accession number to document the transfer
  • create pink receipt copy of the transfer form that will include the accession number and storage location
  • store the records for the time prescribed in the Records Schedule
  • assess value of these records for permanent storage in the University Archives

University offices and departments utitlizing the services of the University Records Center are asked to maintain the pink receipt copy and refer to both the accession number and location for file retrieval.

Retrieval

If a file is needed after transfer, a designated individual from the creating office or department  may request it by contacting  Anna Smith at smithal25@appstate.edu  or  x3137. Please provide the accession number and location from the pink transfer receipt, the name of the file, and any other pertinent information. Someone from the requesting office will need to make arrangements to retrieve the file(s) from the Special Collections Research Center, located on the 4th floor of Belk Library. Please allow 48 hours for the file(s) to be pulled.

When the file is no longer needed, DO NOT send it back to us using campus mail.  Doing so puts the university at risk. Please return the file(s) as soon as possible after use.  A notice of overdue files will be sent to offices on a periodic basis.