University Records Management (URM) oversees the operation of the University Records Center. Located on the Fairfax campus, the University Records Center (URC) is a cost-effective, high-density storage facility holding approximately 9,000 records boxes.
Storage
Storage for temporary, inactive paper records is available to Mason offices, schools, and research associates. All paper records coming for short-term storage to the University Records Center must be less than one year from meeting retention. Paper records must be appropriately arranged in records center boxes provided by University Records Management for both safety as well as preservation requirements.
Due to the environmental conditions at the URC, we do not accept non-paper records such as DVDs, CDs, or hard drives for temporary storage. If you have non-paper records, please email [email protected] for more information regarding destruction or offsite storage. In addition, URM does not store active records, historical records, or records with permanent retention.
Records that are still under retention can be transferred to Vital Records Control for long-term storage until they meet retention requirements and can be destroyed. Please email URM at [email protected] for any storage requests.
After your office has identified records for storage, please be sure to request records center boxes by emailing the URM team if you have not already done so. Boxes hold approximately one cubic foot of paper. Boxes that are improperly built, packed, and/or labeled will not be accepted by University Records Management.
Once boxes are packed with an inventory list of all files included inside the lid, please login to our Infolinx physical records management system with your Mason credentials to enter information for each box and print box labels. All boxes must be added to Infolinx and labels placed onto boxes BEFORE they are transferred to the University Records Center. University Records Management no longer provides PDF box labels for records transfers.
If you are a records coordinator and do not have access to Infolinx, please complete the Infolinx training on MasonLEAPS and reach out to URM for assistance.
Destruction
Prior to destruction, all records – regardless of format – must be approved by the University Records Officer. The same guidelines for entering box information into Infolinx and placing printed labels onto boxes also apply to records identified for destruction.
Records that have met their retention period should be destroyed within a six-month period of meeting the retention date. Records cannot be destroyed if there is an audit, investigation, FOIA request, or litigation proceedings underway, even if the retention period has passed. Once these holds have cleared, the retention period continues; if the retention period passed during the hold, the records should be destroyed immediately thereafter.
Secure shredding services are available for paper through the University Records Center via a third-party vendor. If you are seeking approval to destroy records deemed eligible by URM to be transferred to the University Records Center or to securely scrub your electronic records, please email the University Records Management team. URM will report the destruction and process the Certificate of Destruction with the Library of Virginia, as required by the Virginia Public Records Act.
To send paper, non-records to the University Records Center for secure shredding, please reach out to URM for boxes, if needed, and provide us with a description of the records you wish to send and the years they span to help confirm their eligibility for destruction.
At this time, we can only shred a maximum of 200 boxes a month with our vendor. As a result, we limit the number of boxes we accept for shredding directly from departments each month to prioritize backlogged records. Our new shredding vendor destroys records directly from boxes, so totes are no longer provided. If you need to shred a large number of records, please email [email protected] to request boxes.
Transfer
URM does not accept permanent or historical records for transfer to the University Records Center. Depending on the record, permanent records may need to be retained in university departments or offices or, if they are also historical records, may be transferred to University Archives. For questions about what records should be transferred to University Archives, please contact University Archivist Bob Vay with the Special Collections Research Center at [email protected].