 Every organization needs records, and Virginia Tech creates a great variety of records as it conducts its day-to-day business. This video will provide an introduction to records management at Virginia Tech. Organizational records and systems of record inform decision-making and document our actions. University records can also demonstrate our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Carefully managed and accessible records may protect the university's legal interests and they enable transparency and accountability in the use of public resources. Virginia Tech's records management program provides a framework for the distributed life-cycle management of official university records in all formats, including both paper and electronic records and locations from departmental offices to university-wide online systems of record. Virginia Tech is subject to the Virginia Public Records Act, which establishes a statewide records management office hosted by the Library of Virginia. The Library of Virginia State Agency records retention schedules govern how long we keep our records. The Library Certificate of Records Destruction System facilitates documented and defensible destruction. The Public Records Act additionally requires state agencies to designate a records officer to implement records management at the agency level. Virginia Tech's Director of Records Management is the university's designated records officer and leads the university's records management program, working with records coordinators to manage and dispose of our official records. University Policy 2000, Management of University Records, establishes a framework for records management activities at Virginia Tech, including the role of records coordinators. Departmental records coordinators are responsible for preserving their unit's official records during the required retention period and documenting their destruction at the end of the records life-cycle. If your unit is the office of record for particular records series, the coordinators are responsible for filing a destruction request with records management services before disposal. If your unit is not the office of record, you will still need to securely dispose of your convenience copies of sensitive files created and held by other units, but you will not need to document that disposal through the official form. Following the Certificate of Records Destruction Procedures ensures that records disposal in your unit and for the university overall is consistent, documented, and defensible. The university abbreviated records schedule found at the records management services website will tell you the office of record and the retention requirements for university records which you may be responsible for. Many university files previously managed on paper at the department level are now kept in online systems of record, but you should still consult the abbreviated schedule to identify any official records series in your care. If you have any questions about identifying records or determining retention and destruction requirements for records in any format, please contact records management services via email. Records coordinators are appointed by a dean, director, department head, or other unit administrator using a form on the records management services website. The university records officer sends out regular email updates to registered coordinators and records management services regularly updates our customer list. Please visit our website to find retention guidance, publications for coordinators, request forms, and contact information for more training and consultation.