Archiving

What does archiving entail and why must we archive?

To archive means to systematically care for, preserve (forever or for a limited time) and organise the University’s public documents so that they are searchable and accessible to us internally as well as to the public.

The Swedish Archives Act specifies three main reasons for archiving within the public sector:

• The right to access public documents,
• the information required for administration of justice and other administration, and
• the information required by research.

Internally, we also need to preserve and retrieve important information produced within our core activities and our administration.

What is the structure of our archives?

For records dated after 31 December 2013, the classification structure of the archives, based on activity, applies. This structure means that records are classified by activity and process. The overall structure is based on the University's five main areas of operation:

1. Governance
2. Support
3. Education
4. Research
5. Collaboration, information and external application (third stream activities)

More information on the classification structure of the archives and the classification of records

Records dated up to and including 31 December 2013 are arranged according to the earlier structures for archiving. These records are arranged into various main departments and series, mainly based on the type of document (i.e. minutes, correspondence, registry, accounting documents) rather than its content. Section F (“Subject documents”) is the exception, in which records are classified by content and function.

How do the archives at Lund University operate?

Lund University, as a decentralised public authority, has been divided into a number of internal archive holders. Every faculty office, department or equivalent is regarded as its own archive holder.

The heads of departments and managers at the equivalent level have the formal responsibility for archive management within their organisation. It is therefore the responsibility of the head of department/manager to ensure that staff and resources are allocated for good local archiving.

The University Archives are the common central and final archive of the University, located at Arkivcentrum Syd. The University Archives is part of the Record Management and Archives office together with the registrar’s office, and has a supporting function for the University’s document and archive management. Please contact us if you have questions about how to manage documents, or if you would like to request internal training at your department or organisation.

Arkivcentrum Syd (in Swedish)