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Albert S. Cook Library

Records Management for Student Organizations

This guide is for student groups and alumni who are interested in maintaining their records and contributing to TU's history through the Archives.

What are records?

Records are documents produced in the everyday work of an organization or a person's life. You might have records of your medical or financial history, and an organization probably also has similar records of its financial and planning activities. But you, and your organization, probably also have records – photographs, videos, letters,  journal entries, calendars - that document what life is like day-to-day. 

A running list of the records contained in the Collections of the University Archives can be found here. 

Physical records include:

  • Printed copies of official documents like handbooks and constitutions, handwritten or printed notes or plans 
  • Printed publicity materials, like posters and flyers.  
  • Copies of financial documents such as receipts or invoices

Physical materials might be printed copies of documents that were originally created digitally – your organization might have a particular document in both digital and physical formats. Most of your photographs might be digital, but a scrapbook made with prints of those same photographs is a unique physical record that adds something to the photographs themselves. 

Digital records include anything that needs a technological medium to view or use.  

  • Digital or scanned photographs
  • Video or audio recordings 
  • Written documents that were created digitally or scanned 
  • Electronic correspondence like emails or online chats  
  • Anything posted by you or your organization on a website or social media page. 

Some of these records, like websites and email correspondence, don’t initially seem like things that can be “stored” outside of their original contexts, but if you feel they are worth preserving, you can save copies of them that will remain accessible even if something changes to make the originals inaccessible. 

What records matter?

As technology makes it simpler to create and store more documents than ever, it can be hard to decide what is worth keeping and what isn’t. It might seem safest to save everything, or simplest to get rid of anything that could be easily recreated. The best path is somewhere in between – by strategically choosing what documents to keep, your organization can ensure that they will have the information they need without having to search through a lot of records. Here are a few questions to decide whether a document is worth preserving: 

  • Is it essential for the group to function? Things like policy documents, financial records, correspondence, and meeting notes provide information that is needed often in the daily work of the group. 
  • Does it document the identity of the group? Things like constitutions, statements, photographs, and notes provide an illustration of the culture, values, and image of an organization.  
  • Does it document the activities of the group? Records of previous group activities can include meeting notes, correspondence, photographs, recordings, and publicity materials. These materials can be useful for reference or future planning, or for future members or researchers. 
  • Is it represented elsewhere? Some documents provide a unique record of an organization that might not be accessible to the wider public. On the other hand, if there are copies of a document held elsewhere on campus, it might not be necessary to keep a copy yourself. When in doubt, it is better to keep something if you are unsure if the information is available from another source. 

Materials for the University Archives

Keep the following standards in mind when thinking about what materials to donate to the University Archives:

  • The Archives only maintains one copy of each document, preferably a copy free of notes or doodles.  
  • Final copies of documents are preferred over drafts.  
  • Focus on the documents you created rather than those sent to you by other organizations, unless those are attachments that clarify your own documents (for example, a letter from the President discussed at a meeting might be attached to meeting minutes). 
  • Archival material at a public university is intended for future use by the campus and research community; however, we can restrict confidential materials. If you have a club handbook that should be restricted to members, or required documents that compromise the personal information or security of a student, please communicate this to the Archives so we can restrict the information to the appropriate audiences for the appropriate amount of time.

This is a non-exhaustive list of materials your group can donate to the archives: 

  • Correspondence, Letters, Memos, Emails (printed or saved as individual documents) 
  • Photos with event, date, and identified individuals 
  • Videos of performances, speakers, or interviews with event, date, and identified individuals 
  • Flyers, brochures, conference programs 
  • Reports or publications 
  • Anything else that tells the story of your organization! 

   To earn Tiger Stripes Points: 

  • Officer reflections to benefit next year’s leaders (this can be done using the Year In Review Form) 
  • Constitution and by-laws 
  • Roster
  • Meeting minutes