After evaluating your records and determining which records to keep, the next step is to figure how to best maintain and preserve your records.

Here are some recommendations:

• Keep the club/organization's records in a dry, cool place. Moisture, excessive heat, and light (both from the Sun and fluorescent lighting) can damage paper, fabric, and electronics.
• Avoid using rubber bands, staples, metal paperclips, tape, etc. These materials can damage paper when materials are not stored in an ideal environment.
• Store records on steel shelving or cabinets rather than wood. Wood shelving and cabinets off-gas over time and can be harmful to your materials.

If your club/organization lacks the ideal space to store your organizational records, then you should consider donating your materials to the Central Piedmont Archives as an alternative. Future members can visit the archive to reference past material.

Regardless of where your records are stored, they should be kept together and organized in a way that works best for your club/organization.

Here are some recommendations:

• Properly label any (physical or digital) folders with names and dates. For example, if there's a folder that contains flyers and planning documents about an event, label the folder with the event's name and include the date of the event. If it's a digital folder, consider creating a consistent file naming system, such as:
  • Folder Name
    • File_Name_YYYY-MM-DD
  • Meeting Minutes
    • Meeting_Minutes_2023-09-12
    • Meeting_Minutes_2023-09-26
  • Events
    • Bake_Sale_2024-09-22
    • Art_Workshop_2024-10-31
  • Rosters
    • Club_Member_List_2023-2024
    • Club_Member_List_2024-2025
  • Recognitions
    • Charlotte_Observer_Spotlight_2024-11
       
• If your club/organization records include photographs and scrapbooks, please identify as many of the people depicted as possible. This will help future club/organization members, students, and researchers.
   
• If possible, create an inventory of the records your organization maintains so that you can quickly identify and locate records of interest. An inventory list can be as simple as:
  • Box 1
    • Folder 1: Mission Statement, 2024-2025
    • Folder 2: By-laws, 2024-2025
    • Folder 3: Newsletters, 2025

Electronic/digital records include things like email, photographs, videos, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and much more. Just like physical records, these records also deserve the same attention and care. This will ensure your records remain accessible to future members, students, and researchers. 

Here are some DO and DON'Ts to keep in mind:

• DON'T store your electronic/digital records in your Central Piedmont email or One Drive account. These services will be deactivated at some point after you part from the College. 
• DO store your records in an email account specific to your club/organization or position within the club/organization. This account can be passed down to the new members each year.
• DO store your electronic/digital files in multiple places. For example, in addition to using a cloud storage service (such as Google Drive), you should also consider storing backups of your files with your club/organization's faculty advisor.
• DO stick to a format and be consistent.
  • For text files, use TXT.
  • For documents in which you need to preserve the formatting, like flyers and newsletters, use PDF.
  • For photographs, use JPG.
  • For videos, use MP4.
  • For emails, we recommend selecting the most important emails and saving them as PDF.
• DO organize your electronic/digital files just as you would with your physical records. For example, meeting minutes should be kept in their own folder and clearly labeled as "Meeting Minutes." It's important to create a standardized way of naming your club/organization's files because this will make it easier to identify and find records.