Records Management at Minnesota State University, Mankato: Transferring Your Materials to the University Records Center

This is the first installment of a three part series about Records Management at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  See part two and three (coming soon)!

University Records Center
Mascots, Rick and Mavy

One of the MSU Archives responsibilities include managing the day to day operations of the University Records Center, a secure, off-site and remote storage facility (as in not in the Memorial Library) for the temporary storage of university records, that have a specific life span whether it is 2 or 20 years.  My co-worker Mee kindly details how to determine what types of materials go to the MSU Archives and the University Records Center in her blog post here.

But no worries, we will happily field your inquiries about which Retention Schedule your department should follow and any other questions you may have.

One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is, “Why do we have to transfer our materials in those specific banker boxes?  They’re expensive, don't cha you know!”  Here’s why.  We have a finite amount of shelving space in the University Records Center that we need to maximize.  There is generally 1500-2500 boxes stored in the University Records Center at any one time and those specific sized banker boxes allow us to store up to 6 boxes per shelf.  Unfortunately, we’ve had to decline transfers in the past that were stored in paper copy boxes or over sized banker boxes because we’d only be able to store 2 boxes per shelf.  Don’t let that happen to you!

Transferring your records to the University Records Center can be scary, but don’t fret!  We’ve got instructions for you right here.

The University Records Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Anne Stenzel is an Archives Technician specializing in digitization at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She looks forward to your Records Management questions and comments below!