Video Recordings: Best Practices for Records Management

Overview

Learn best practices for managing video recordings made or received and kept in connection with UO work.

Reflect before you record

While convenient to create, video recordings of meetings are not always required to fulfill the University of Oregon's recordkeeping obligations. When hosting a meeting, consider whether you need to record and why. Keep the following points in mind:

• You're creating a record. When you record meetings, you are creating a record that may be released if requested.
• Notice and consent. Be mindful of laws that may relate to recordings, such as ORS 165.540, which requires specifically informing other participants to the conversation that the meeting is being recorded subject to some exceptions. The UO recommends against recording staff or one-on-one conversations. When recordings include students or members of the public, best practices dictate that you obtain consent from all participants and, at a minimum, notify all attendees that the event is being recorded.
• Not all software has sufficient capabilities to serve as a recordkeeping or records preservation solution. Zoom and similar videoconferencing platforms are designed primarily for real-time video connection. They lack key features — such as the ability to set file names and an organizing structure — needed to find, produce, and otherwise manage videos as records for their full retention period.

File formats

Zoom and Microsoft Teams use the MP4 video format, which is acceptable for records retention purposes.

For other preferred and acceptable formats, please consult the Recommended Format Statement on Moving Image Works from the Library of Congress.

Video recordings as transitory and intermediary records

In many cases, video recordings of meetings are not the final record that must be kept for the full retention prescribed by the UO Records Retention Schedule. Instead, recordings typically serve an intermediary role, requiring preservation only until minutes are generated. The following types of video recordings may be deleted immediately unless they're in scope for a pending public records request, audit, or litigation hold:

• Meetings for which there are notes, minutes, or transcripts.
• Ad hoc or one-time meetings that did not result in any major financial, personnel, or operational impact or where the recording doesn't serve as the sole source of documentation about a decision.
• Student presentations not used for grading or other evaluative purposes.
• Recordings made in error.

Learn more:

• Transitory, Intermediary, and Substantive Records — UO Records Management

Video recordings as substantive records

There are times when the video recordings serve as the substantive record and must be retained for the duration of time prescribed by the UO Records Retention Schedule. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Content related to training
• Recordings of counseling sessions.
• Video published as part of marketing and publicity campaigns.
• Footage captured by the public safety camera system.
• Law enforcement patrol car and body camera recordings.

It is each UO employee's responsibility, in coordination with your home department, to ensure any video recordings required for records retention are saved where they can be found, opened, and viewed for their full retention period.

We recommend organizing recordings into folders by function or activity to facilitate records retention:

• Include your department or program name, plus the name and date of the event or meeting, in file and/or subfolder names.
• Use the date information in the folder name to routinely apply retention.

More information about file naming conventions is available at Create records using best practices from University Records Management.

Need help?

For more help, please contact your unit's Records Steward or University Records Management.