What is a "Public Record" under
the Local Records Act?
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book
paper
map
photograph
digitized electronic
material,
• or other official
documentary
material,
Public Records
• regardless of physical form or characteristics,
• made, produced, executed or received by any agency or
officer pursuant to law or in connection with the
transaction of public business and
• preserved or appropriate for preservation by such
agency or officer, or any successor thereof,
• as evidence of the organization, function, policies,
decisions, procedures, or other activities thereof, or
because of the informational data contained therein.
What is a public record under the
“Local Records Act”?
• Basically records that fall under the
“Local Records Act” are every type of
record you receive or generate in the
course of business including electronic
records.
Electronic Records
• When we talk about electronic records such as
instant messages one of the things that it may
be difficult to determine is when does the
record begin and when does it end?
• On-line meetings with multiple participants,
who is responsible for saving the records of
these types of transactions?
• Had you even thought about these being
records before?
Non-Records
• Library and museum material made or
acquired and preserved solely for
reference or exhibition purposes, extra
copies of documents preserved only for
convenience of reference, and stocks of
publications and of processed documents
are not included within the definition of a
public record.
(Source: P.A. 89-272, eff. 8-10-95.)
Non-Record Materials
• While you do not need the permission of
the LRC to dispose of extra copies of
materials, you need to be careful when
disposing of materials such as draft
copies of records which might contain
personal identification data because of
identity theft issues.
Non-Record Materials
• An example of a non-record are the books,
magazines, and papers that are part of the
collections of a library.
• With regard to libraries such items as
computer sign-in sheets, book check out
records, etc. are records under the “Local
Records Act” and must be retained according
to the retentions set by the Local Records
Commission.
• Confidentiality issues should not be confused
with retention issues.
Non-Record Materials
• Some other examples of non-records are
junk emails, Christmas Party
announcements, business cards and
brochures from salesmen
Are faxes, videos, emails,
and instant messages records, etc.?
• Yes, depending on the information contained in
the fax, email, or instant message or the
information recorded on the dvd, cd, video, or
cassette tape, etc.
• We determine if it is a record by the
information contained therein, not by the
media the information is stored on.
• If the information fits the aforementioned
definition, it is a public record subject to the
provisions of the “Local Records Act”
regardless of the media in which the data is
maintained.
Video Recordings
• In some municipalities the Police Departments
have video cameras on top of utility poles, those
video tapes sometimes document the
commission of a crime, sometimes they capture
what happened in a traffic accident.
• Other examples of video recordings that could
be considered records are school bus videos,
booking videos, videos of public body meetings,
squad car videos.
Email Records
• Many of us are actually sending out and
receiving more emails in our office than we
are preparing typed paper correspondence.
• If we receive the email or send the email as
part of our job duties it is a record.
• Even inner-office emails can be records.
Email Correspondence
• If you are a supervisor and you direct an
employee to complete a task.
• That email might later be needed if there is a
disciplinary action taken involving that
employee not completing the task as directed or
if you are the employee, your response might
indicate that you did complete the task.
• Email read receipts prove whether or not
someone received and read a particular email.
Electronic Records
• Sent and received emails which relate to
negotiating a contract with a vendor are
correspondence.
• These would generally be considered
part of a contract file and not part of a
general correspondence file.