Central Records Store

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Introduction

As part of the Records Management Programme, a Central Records Store has been created for the use of all departments. The benefits of depositing records with the store are as follows:

  • free-up space in your office / storeroom
  • records are housed in a secure location
  • environmental conditions are regularly monitored to ensure preservation of the records
  • files can easily be recalled via our file retrieval service

To transfer files

E-mail records@aber.ac.uk to request boxes. Please note that material will only be accepted in records store boxes.

We will allocate each potential deposit a consignment number, and when the flat-packed boxes reach you, the top one will have the consignment number written on its end.

Download the  Transfer Sheet and enter details for each file (guidance on what should be entered into each field can be found here: Transfer Sheet Guidance)

Please add the consignment number to the end of each filled box, together with its box number

Please do not overfill the boxes. They should weigh no more than 15Kgs. If you can’t lift them comfortably yourself, they are probably too heavy.

Where boxes contain a high number of individual files (i.e. staff or student files), please stand them on their spine so that the file names are readable at a glance

E-mail records@aber.ac.uk to notify us when the boxes are ready for collection, and attach the completed transfer sheet. Please note that we cannot accept any unlisted boxes.

We will make arrangements for the post room to collect the boxes from you.

Once the boxes are received at the store, their contents will be checked against the transfer sheet, and you will be sent a confirmation e-mail.

The file details will then be imported into our Access database to aid retrieval

Please retain a copy of the transfer sheet for the duration of the records’ life in the records store.

To retrieve a file

E-mail records@aber.ac.uk with the consignment, box and file number, as well as the file title. (For those records transferred before January 2008, please provide the box number if known, the file title and start and end dates).

Please confirm the name, department and building of where you want the file to be sent.

The file will be sent via the internal mail and you should expect to receive it within 48 hours.

If you require a file urgently, please ask and we will do our best to deliver it as quickly as possible

To return a file

Files should be returned via the internal mail and always in the secure bag provided.

The address label should have the return address on the back. If not, please return to:

Records Manager
Hugh Owen Library
Penglais Campus
Aberystwyth University

In the address label pouch you will also find a yellow security tag. When you are ready to return the file, please zip up the bag fully, place the zipper in the plastic housing and insert the yellow tag.

This will ensure that we are alerted in the unlikely event that the bag is tampered with in transit.

Retention

If you do not yet have an approved retention period for the particular records you wish to deposit, please contact the Records Manager to agree a retention period before the records are transferred.

Disposition

When a record has reached the end of its retention period, you will be notified prior to its destruction or transfer to the archive for permanent preservation