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Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen
Drei Personen vor einem Regal mit Archivmaterial, eine Person nimmt eine Box heraus. SUB Göttingen, Martin Liebetruth

Archiving Official Records

All official records of the University of Göttingen’s departments (including the University Medical Center Göttingen) must be offered to the Göttingen University Archive for transfer once they are no longer needed, at the latest 30 years after creation. This legal requirement applies to paper records, electronic documents, and database contents alike. The legal basis is the Guideline on the Archiving of Written Records and §§ 2–3 in conjunction with § 7 para. 3 of the Niedersächsisches Archivgesetz (NArchG).

Records may not be destroyed without the consent of the University Archive. The legal obligation to archive takes precedence over internal university retention periods.

Archiving is not only a legal requirement but also a service provided by the University Archive, offering practical benefits for your department.

Your Benefits

  • Archiving frees up valuable storage space.
  • The University Archive takes care of data protection for you, ensuring confidentiality through the retention periods defined by the NArchG.
  • The preservation of your records is guaranteed (unlike in damp basements, with pest infestations, or similar risks).
  • Archived records can be requested at any time and are made available within 24 hours, either in the original or as a digital scan. We handle the research for you.

What You Need to Do

If old records or data sets are no longer needed, please send us an email (archiv@sub.uni-goettingen.de).

The following information is required:

  • Extent of the records (in shelf meters or megabytes)
  • Content of the records (e. g., ‘Faculty Council Minutes 2005–2010’, ‘Third-Party Funding Applications’, ‘Job Applications’)
  • Format of the records (e. g., ‘file folders’, ‘hanging files’, ‘digital files’)
  • Origin of the records: Do they belong to your department, or were they inherited from predecessors?

What Happens Next?

The University Archive will get in touch with you to decide which records will be accepted for archiving. After this evaluation, any remaining records should be destroyed or deleted. If necessary, we can arrange a meeting to review the files together.

The University Archive handles the transport of paper records and can provide transport containers if required. For electronic data, a secure upload link will be made available.

You will receive a certificate confirming the legal archiving, including reference numbers for easy retrieval.

Contact

Göttingen University Archives