Here are five reasons why keeping everything forever may not be a good idea.

1. Increasing volume of records.

It's a fact that computers have not eliminated the need for paper. Some would argue that we actually generate more paper records now than we did before the advent of the personal computer. The number of records generated in the course of university business continues to increase at an astonishing rate. The Board of Regents Records Retention Guidelines identifies over 400 different types of records typically generated by University of Georgia institutions. Keeping everything means you will, in time, be overwhelmed by paper.

2. High cost of storage.

A square foot of office space on the KSU campus costs about $100. Lateral and vertical filing cabinets cost hundreds of dollars. Facing these kinds of costs, it makes sense to distinguish between records that should be kept for an extended period of time and those that should not as an alternative to piling up boxes and purchasing more filing cabinets.

3. Increasing volume impedes ability to locate items quickly.

The more material you have, the greater the possibility that items will not be located when they are needed (this is true for both paper and digital records), thus wasting time and money.

4. Risk of loss or damage in a disaster.

Keeping everything in your office or in your own storage area means that your records are in danger of being lost or damaged in the event of a disaster. Storing your inactive records off-site with Iron Mountain transfers the burden of caring for those records from you to them.

5. Risk of pre-trial discovery.

Keeping records longer than the time periods recommended by the Board of Regents Guidelines increases the risk of pre-trial discovery of records. Information provided by these records may be taken out of context or misinterpreted, thereby damaging the University in a court of law and incurring steep legal fees.