Greetings to all!
 
My apologies for cross-posting. I recently submitted the following to the archives List and several people recommended that I ask for your opinions as well. I would appreciate your subject expertise and any advice you can offer...
>>Our Medical School is planning to digitize some of its student records and destroy the hard copy originals. They asked for the Archive's opinion about this, and we replied that normally, certain types of student records are scheduled for permanent retention: change of grade forms (update documents); graduation lists; class lists (original grade sheets), i.e. transcripts. I am submitting the School's response for your opinions and comments: "Aren't records considered permanently retained if they have been digitized?" Aside from recommending the usual back-ups and technological refreshment, how permanent do we consider the digital copies our institutions are making? Do electronic copies satisfy FERPA requirements? What about legal issues for the digital file in terms of whether it can be certified to be an "unaltered" version? As recently as 2000 some schools were recommending microfilming student records designated as permanent and storing them offsite, as well as keeping the hard copies, but 8 years is a technological eternity. Are people still microfilming or just digitizing? And what happens to the hard copies? My inclination would be to digitize and keep the hard copies of specific records, but does the fact that we are a private institution alter our retention obligations? I haven't been able to find an answer to this issue in the Listserve archives, and googling retrieves some interesting versions of various school retention schedules, but not as much further clarification as I need--so I turn to the List for help. Have any of you had experience with this issue? <<
With thanks and best regards, Karen Koka
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.Karen F. KokaHistorical Archives LibrarianMayo Clinic Historical Unit200 First Street SWRochester, MN 55905E-mail: [log in to unmask]: 507-284-4054; Fax: 507-266-2295 
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