Archives & Records Management Handbook

Chapter 3 Records Management -- Services to Departments

Disasters, natural and human caused, are inevitable at an institution as large as Oregon State University. Office or unit disaster plans should include contingencies for protecting and salvaging records (particularly vital records) in the event of a disaster. The Archives staff can assist units in disaster planning and setting up a vital records program, so that a unit's most critical records will be safe and accessible in the event of a disaster. The University Archives also offers disaster response services and recovery assistance to campus offices. The archives staff is trained to handle wet and fire-damaged paper records, books and magazines, photographs, microfilm, and magnetic tapes on a limited scale. For additional information, see Oregon State Archives Bulletins 5.1, Introduction to Records Disaster Planning, and 5.2, Vital Records. Paper copies are also available from the University Archives.

University Archives staff recovering records at the Oregon State University Mink Research Center, June 1991. After this facility was vandalized and partially burned by members of a radical animal rights organization, University Archives staff assisted the Mink Research Center staff in the salvage and recovery of records damaged during the attack. [OSU Archives P169, acc. 91:21.]

  Return to Archives Home Page