University of California, Irvine. Central Records Unit.

The Central Records Unit was established at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in late 1963.

The primary goal of the unit was to collect and manage the administrative documents of central administrative offices. It was moved to North Campus in 1991 and disbanded the following year.

From the description of Central Records Unit records, 1928-1994 (bulk 1965-1984). (University of California, Irvine). WorldCat record id: 48660570

Historical Background

Organizational History

The Central Records Unit was established by Vice Chancellor L.E. Cox in late 1963 and began operations on January 1, 1964. The primary goal of the unit was to provide central administrative offices a simple and effective system to manage their administrative documents and collect and maintain a body of material that would serve as campus administration's corporate memory for business purposes. This unit provided a central location for the maintenance of office files, reproduction services, processing incoming and outgoing mail, monitoring action items until they were completed, distribution of campus administrative procedure and policy statements, and managing retention schedules for records having administrative, legal, fiscal, or research value. Initially the offices served by Central Records included the Chancellor's Office, Public Affairs, Student Affairs (except student records), Vice Chancellor of Business and Finance, Architects and Engineers, Personnel (except records on individuals), Purchasing, Grounds and Buildings and various academic departments.

Central Records procedures for processing campus mail varied through the years. Prior to 1989, Central Records sorted and routed mail directly to addressees. In 1989, at the request of Chancellor Peltason and with the goal of speeding up mail processing, Central Records began photocopying all incoming U.S. and campus mail addressed to administrative control points by name or title. Control points included the Chancellor, the Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, the Executive Vice Chancellor, the Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor, the Vice Chancellors, the Associate Vice Chancellors, and the Assistant Vice Chancellors. In 1989, the photocopies were sent to addressees, and the originals were retained and filed by Central Records. In 1990 processing policy changed: photocopies were filed and the originals were forwarded to the addressee. Once material was no longer of use to the addressee or office, Central Records encouraged the return of the original documents so they could be placed back in Central Records files, and the photocopies were discarded. Mail marked "Administrative Confidential," "Addressee Only," "Personal," or "Mr. and Mrs." was forwarded directly to the addressee and not opened or photocopied by Central Records. This approach was in place from 1990-1992.

The Central Records Unit functioned as an office of record for campus administration. In addition to its records management function, Central Records also accepted any materials that departments believed had historical value for eventual transfer to the University Archives, which the Library began staffing in ca. 1968.

At its inception, Central Records faced a good deal of reluctance and suspicion, since staff feared placing their files in a central administrative area "for all to see." The active support of top campus administrators helped immeasurably to overcome these attitudes. Soon departments found Central Records services to be an efficient and dependable means of managing their records.

In its first year of operation the Central Records Unit achieved many of its goals, including saving space and equipment, eliminating duplicate material campuswide, and building the beginnings of a systematic records management program. Unfortunately, the unit also encountered a dilemma that would become increasingly problematic in future years: limited staffing vs. an increasing amount of incoming material due to the growth of the campus. In future years lack of space also became a major problem. In 1975 and 1981 files were selectively microfilmed in order to provide more space for incoming materials, and some original documents may have been discarded.

Central Records service was designed for high-level administrators in the Administration building. Services were offered to other departments on a voluntary basis. When a department in the Administration building decided not to utilize Central Records services, all mail was sent directly to the office or department unopened, and the department was responsible for maintaining its own records. When an office moved out of the Administration building, Central Records services were no longer provided to that office.

At times when Central Records staff suffered heavy workloads, modifications to current procedures were made in order to place more responsibility with the individual departments for records upkeep. Invariably, these modifications significantly affected the continuity of Central Records files. If left to the departments, many did not regularly forward the required materials to be included in Central Records. For example, due to a heavy workload in 1971, Central Records stopped processing the Purchasing department's mail. The processing was reinstated in 1972 when staff realized that legal records that the department had forgotten to forward were missing from Central Records files.

In the mid-1980s, for a variety of reasons, some Central Records users began duplicating Central Records tracking activities in their own offices. A memo from Dowrene Hahn, Records Management Coordinator, dated August 21, 1984 stated that "The Central Records system should be updated to minimize or eliminate the need for logging by individual offices." Soon after, the Central Records Task Force was created to examine the present performance of the unit. Their final report states:

The methods established to perform these functions accommodated the University of California (Irvine) during the 1960s but have become less efficient in recent years. Many service and function changes have taken place in this time, along with organizational changes and new management in Central Records and at higher levels of campus administration. The revolutionary advances in office automation and information processing have also significantly impacted Central Records.

Among other things, the Task Force recommended that Central Records not maintain personal files or departmental working files. Otherwise, "a radical reassignment of job responsibilities and additional space, equipment, and personnel would be required to facilitate all departmental demands placed on the current system."

In 1985, with hopes of attaining a higher level of control over files housed at Central Records, a computerized database was introduced to index all documents on file. Each document was assigned a unique number that was used to identify the document in the database; physical items were still filed by subject. Central Records staff read each incoming document and entered keywords describing the document's subject into the database. The database gave staff the ability to locate documents using the document number, addressee, sender, and subject keywords.

In 1991 the Central Records Unit moved from the Administration Building to North Campus, and staffing was cut from 9 FTE to 2 FTE over the course of about four years. As a result Central Records abandoned its mail-processing component and delivered mail directly to each department. Since mail processing was in the hands of each department, Central Records depended on each office to forward appropriate materials for inclusion in Central Records. At this point, the campus records manager, Dowrene Hahn, began advising individual departments on managing their own records, including what type of documents to maintain, for how long, and where permanent documents should be forwarded (to either Central Records or University Archives). Central Records was disbanded in 1992 at the beginning of the administration of Chancellor Laurel Wilkening due to budget cuts.

Chronology

• 1963: Established by Vice Chancellor L.E. Cox.
• 1964: Began servicing campus from the Library Administration Building.
• 1970s: Moved to the Administration Building.
• 1971: Name changed to Administrative Services.
• 1975: Microfilming of permanent records covering 1963-1969.
• 1981: Microfilming of permanent records covering 1970-1977.
• 1984: Name changed back to Central Records.
• 1984: Central Records Task Force commissioned to review current procedures.
• 1985: Computerized database introduced to index all documents on file.
• 1991: Moved to North Campus facility.
• 1991: Eliminated processing of incoming campus and U.S. mail (served distribution function only).
• 1992: Disbanded due to campus budget cuts.

From the guide to the Central Records Unit records, University of California, Irvine, 1928-1994, bulk 1965-1984, (University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.)