IV.18 DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL RECORDS: CONTENT AND PRESERVATION

The campus Academic Personnel Office has distributed to all departments copies of Faculty Senate Document 348, Policy Statement on Departmental Personnel Records, and the Report to the University Committee from the Ad Hoc Committee on Departmental Personnel Records. Additional copies may be requested from that office at 3-6561.

These documents address the questions of the purpose and content of departmental personnel records, who may have access to them and for what purposes, and the confidentiality of these records. Briefly, the files should ordinarily contain only information relevant to the staff member's status and performance as an employee and to the commitments made to and by him or her. Individual staff members may inspect their own files, except as limited by portions of the "confidentiality" policies, and may add statements to the files concerning material in them. Other members of the University staff may have access to the files only when the information sought is related to a legitimate University purpose. Information may be released to those outside the University only if it is public by law or with the staff member's prior consent (see Chapter I, "Public Records"). Information about academic staff files may be found in Chapter 11 of the Academic Staff Policies and Procedures (see p. 46 ff. at http://acstaff.wisc.edu/ASPP/ASPP2006.pdf).  

In the case of graduate students who are also employees (in particular, teaching or project assistants), departments should recognize and distinguish between employment records and student records.

The University Archives has the dual mission of securing and preserving the University's historical and permanently valuable recordings, and of assisting campus offices with their information management needs. Approval of the Archivist is required before University records may be destroyed. It is particularly important to retain adequate documentation of the job application and hiring process. The Archives and Records Management Manual, available online at http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Archives/rm/manual/ManualHome.html, provides information about this important area. For more information, contact the Archives Office at 2-5629 or visit their website (http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Archives/). 

Links updated August 2006