MCC Daily Tribune
For The Record: Water and Records DON'T Mix!
Warning: the following article may be very frightening to those who have paper records. If paper and liquid mixing causes any anxiety, please consult a health care professional prior to reading.
Picture this: you get asked to retrieve an inactive record for a co- worker. The inactive record is being kept in a damp, dimly lit basement, under a leaky pipe – stop reading here if your heart can't take it.
You go to retrieve the inactive record, a full coffee cup in hand. You enter the dank, dark basement and flip on a flickering light. Before you are stacks of boxes, yellowing and stained. You locate the box you’re looking for and upon opening it are overwhelmed with the smell of mildew. You gingerly search for the inactive record in question but it’s slow going. Many of the records are stuck together, extremely damaged, and covered in strange dark spots. You squint your hardest and try not to breathe in the air that is perfumed with the smell of decay. After what seems like a century you find the inactive record you need, but it looks like it was left in the laundry machine. You rush to pull the moldering record, but, in your hurry, knock over your coffee. The warm liquid washes over the boxes below, staining them further. You step back, aghast, and slip on the coffee puddle that has pooled at your feet. Everything goes black - including the inactive record you were holding (which is now covered in a dark roast).
This ALL could have been avoided if your department had kept their inactive records in a dry, temperature controlled, well-lit location, free of any liquids (including carelessly placed coffee). This is all common sense, but unfortunately, not so common. Many colleges, counties and corporations keep their inactive records in insufficient storage locations like humid basements, closets, and attics. When considering where to store your inactive records, consider temperature, humidity, lighting, accessibility, security and an inventory system. A disaster plan is also essential. A disaster plan outlines what should be done in the event that a natural or manmade disaster compromises or damages records. MCC’s disaster plan provides guidance for the recovery and restoration of mission critical documents and information that may be damaged or lost in a mishap or disaster. Mission critical is defined as documents and/or information necessary for the successful day-to-day operation of the institution. In this plan, records will refer to mission critical documents and information. For more information on MCC’s disaster plan, please reach out to Public Safety.
Records management doesn’t have to be scary; it just has to be secure… and dry.
This has been, For The Record.
Glenn Tolle
Archives and Record Management
06/30/2026