Unit 7 Listen and Read:
Life Cycles Of Records
Records have life cycles. They are created or received. At this stage their physical form (paper, electronic, magnetic, photographic) and informational content are established. Records are then used and maintained. They are referred to, revised, refiled, and occasionally reorganized. For the most part, the need to refer to files declines sharply as their age increases. As records reach the end of their active lives, they are disposed of in some manner: they are destroyed, reformatted, transferred to inactive storage, or transferred to the University Archives. During the use/maintenance life cycle phase, filing system design is critical in controlling records. The disposition phase of the life cycle is critically important to the legal and economical maintenance of office records. Many records can be legally destroyed at the end of their active lives. Others become semi-active and should be retired to a records storage area for more convenient storage. Records with continuing long-term value are sent to the University Archives for permanent storage.