The University Archives actively collects the following types of records as part of its mission to document the history and activities of Zayed University. Other materials will be reviewed for inclusion; contact the University Archivist for assistance.
• Accreditation and Program Review reports and supporting documentation
• Planning documents
• Annual reports, budget reports, institutional reports, etc.
• Correspondence
• Meeting minutes and other significant documents of all governing bodies of the university (University Provost’s Council, etc.)
• Meeting minutes, memos and reports of all academic and administrative committees and task forces
• Contracts
• University publications (periodic and one-off)
• Faculty publications (books, chapters, articles)
• Significant student projects (Capstones, etc.)
• Student publications
• Records of student organizations and their activities
• Newspaper clippings
• Biographical information about faculty, students and staff
• Statistical information such as enrollment records
• Audio-visual material documenting Zayed University
• Blueprints
• Artifacts and memorabilia
Complete the form linked below to send files to the University Archives.
The form includes a box label; please attach it to all boxes or envelopes being sent to the Archives.
The terms defined below are useful in understanding some of the functions and practices of the University Archives. Most are taken from the document "Don't Throw It Away! Documenting and Preserving Organizational History" available online here, which is based on the Society of American Archivists' online glossary here.
The most important term to understand is the verb "to archive."
This verb is used in different ways by different people. Some people use it to mean the act of storing files (either paper or electronic) permanently, for future access. Others use it to describe the process of digitizing and then sometimes discarding a paper file so that the electronic version can be stored.
The University Archives does both of these, but with a key focus on establishing control over the files, such as organizing them by subject or creating a file name convention, and planning for their preservation and access, such as choosing non-proprietary electronic file types or storing them in environmentally appropriate conditions.
Administrative value – The usefulness of records to the originating or succeeding agency in the conduct of current business.
Appraisal – The process of determining the value and thus the disposition of records based on their current administrative, legal, and fiscal use; their evidential and informational or research use; their arrangement; and their relationship to other records.
Archival integrity – The standard that requires that archival holdings be identified and arranged by provenance, maintained in their original filing order, and preserved in their entirety.
Archives – The noncurrent records of an organization or institution preserved because of their continuing value; also known as archival materials or archival holdings. Also, the agency responsible for the administration of archival materials. In the information technology professions, “archive” is often used in a more general way to describe all files that are stored on a removable medium or to refer to the data backups that the organization maintains for disaster preparedness.
Archivist – A person responsible for or engaged in the management of archives.
Arrangement – The process and result of organizing archives in accordance with accepted archival principles. The process usually includes packing, labeling, and shelving of archives and is intended to achieve physical or administrative control and basic identification of the holdings. Also known as processing.
Correspondence – Letters, postcards, memoranda, notes, and any other form of addressed, written communications sent and received.
Current records – Records necessary for conducting the current business of an office. Also known as active records.
Deed of gift – A signed, written instrument containing a voluntary transfer of ownership of archival records. This frequently takes the form of a contract establishing conditions governing the transfer of ownership and specifying any restrictions on access or use.
Deposit – Archives placed in the physical custody of a repository without transfer of ownership.
Disposition – The actions taken with regard to noncurrent records following their appraisal. This may include transfer to the archives or disposal/destruction.
Document – Recorded information, regardless of medium. Also known as a record.
Evidential value – The value of those records of an agency that are necessary to provide authentic and adequate documentation of its organization and functioning.
File – To place documents in a predetermined location according to an overall plan of classification.
Finding aids – The descriptive guide created by an archival agency to establish physical or administrative and intellectual control over archival records.
Informational value – The value of records that derives from the information they contain about persons, places, and subjects of interest to organizations, rather than about the functioning of the organization itself.
Inventory – In Records and Information Management the term is used to describe a survey of records prior to disposition or the development of records retention schedules.
Noncurrent records – Records that are no longer needed in the conduct of current business and can therefore be transferred to the archives or, if appropriate, destroyed.
Preservation – The provision of adequate facilities for the protection, care, and maintenance of archives. Also, specific measures to repair, maintain, restore, or protect documents.
Provenance – The organization, office, or agency that created the records in the conduct of its business. Also, the principle in archival theory that archives of a given records creator must not be intermingled with those of other records creators. Also referred to by the French term, respect des fonds.
Record group – Records maintained as a unit because they were created by a distinct administrative unit and document organizational relationships.
Records – All recorded information made or received and maintained by an organization in the transaction of its business.
Records and Information Management – An area of general administrative management concerned with achieving economy and efficiency in the creation, use and maintenance, and disposition of records.
Records retention schedule – A document governing, on a continuing basis, the retention and disposition of the records of an organization. Also known as a retention schedule or records schedule.
Repository – A place where archives are kept. Also known as a depository.
Semicurrent records – Records no longer needed on a regular basis, but which are referred to on occasion and are not yet ready for final disposition to the archives or to be destroyed.
Series – Records maintained as a unit because they relate to a particular subject or function, result from the same activity, have a particular form, or because of some other relationship. Also known as a records series.
Special Collections - Material of a rare, unique, or personal and usually vintage quality, such as a collection of a prominent family’s papers, the original signed copy of a corporate charter, a first edition of an important book, or an original print of an early photograph.
Weed – To discard records lacking archival value.