Knowledge Base: Library Policies

1. 1. GENERAL RECORDS MANAGEMENT

POLICY

1. 1. 1. All records created by the Morinville Community Library Board and employees of the Library or in the Library’s custody, are the property of the Library, and are managed as a corporate resource, regardless of medium or format, to support effective decision-making, to meet operational requirements and to protect the legal, financial and other interests of the Library. Records are organized to facilitate access by those who require it through the proper and co-ordinated management of active and inactive records, subject to legal and policy constraints.
2. 1. 2. This policy applies to the creation, maintenance, retention and disposition of all records created and/or used by the Library board and employees to conduct the Library’s business.
      3. Information that will have some future administrative, financial, legal, research or historical value to the Library shall be filed and retained according to Record Retention Schedule, Form 7.1 (Appendix 7A).
      4. This policy does not pertain to items in the Library’s materials collections acquired solely for use by the public.
      5. The Library Director is responsible for ensuring that records management priorities and requirements are met, and that they fully reflect library policies and priorities.
      6. The Library will:
         • develop and implement effective corporate records practices, policy, and standards for the creation, organization, use, retention, preservation and final disposal of records;
         • develop, implement and maintain a Records Retention Schedule governing the retention and timely transfer or disposition of all records;
         • develop and provide training and assistance to library employees regarding their responsibilities for records management.

1. 2. STORAGE & RETENTION

POLICY

1. 1. 1. Essential records of the Morinville Community Library shall be kept in a designated filing cabinet, in a secure location.

1. 1. 2. Administrative files shall be purged annually and records moved, archived, or destroyed as appropriate according to Record Retention Schedule, Form 7.1 (Appendix 7A)
      3. Library staff is responsible for maintenance of their own current and working files. Any significant documents received by any member of the library staff shall be retained as administrative or essential files, according to Appendix 7A.
      4. There shall be a backup process in place for every computer in the office that stores essential services. Staff adherence to backup procedures is the responsibility of the Library Director.

1. 3. DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS

POLICY

1. 1. 1. Authority for the proper and complete destruction of records is given to the Library Director by the Board as per Appendix 7A.
      2. The Director shall report the destruction of the records to the Board on the List of Records Destroyed Form 7.2 (Appendix 7A).
      3. Any personal/confidential records to be destroyed shall be shredded.

1. 4. TRANSITORY RECORDS

DEFINITION: Records that have short-term, immediate or no value to the Library AND that the library will not need again.

These include:

1. 1. 1. temporary information such as telephone messages, post-it notes, or memos;
      2. duplicates such as photocopies;
      3. draft documents and working papers such as earlier versions of final documents.

POLICY

1. Temporary information shall be destroyed once it has been used to perform the required activity.
2. Duplicates clearly identified as a copy, shall be discarded after the master version has been filed.
3. The preferred disposition method shall be shredding.
4. The Library Director shall ensure confidential transitory electronic records are securely disposed of.