The purpose of records management at EMBL is to ensure the availability of necessary information,  documents and data (“records”) at all times to support its activities. This includes maintaining institutional knowledge, memory and history, complying with legal and regulatory requirements, and protecting the organisation in case of litigation or audits.

What is an EMBL record?

An EMBL record is defined as information in any medium and format that is created, received and managed in the course of EMBL’s work in governance, administration, research, training and other functions, and that serves as evidence of these activities. Examples of EMBL records include: emails, invoices, contracts, correspondence, etc.

EMBL records of permanent and historical value are transferred to the EMBL Archive for archival preservation. 

What  does EMBL Records Management do?

The mission of EMBL Records Management is to support the administrative, institutional, research, business and operational activities of the EMBL across all sites in relation to the management, use and disposition of their records.

Particularly, we provide policies, guidelines and advice in the following areas:

• Creating and updating records retention and disposition rules, according to working practices and legal and auditing requirements.
• Creating and updating records filing systems.
• Providing recommendations for physical and digital storage of records.
• Offering digitisation guidelines, and, more broadly, assisting in automating documentary processes.
• Establishing  filing-naming guidelines. 
• Providing email records management and archiving guidelines.
• Performing other activities that may help streamline your records workflows.
• Providing secure space for EMBL’s analog records of valuable but not permanent value, such as laboratory notebooks, in our “Intermediate Archive” (Zwischenarchiv).
• Assisting in the transfer of records with archival value to the EMBL Archive.

For more information about Records Management at EMBL, please contact the EMBL Archives and Records Manager or visit the Records Management intranet page (internal access only).