Managing Public Records
for Local Government Agencies

Introduction

Welcome to the Government Records Branch's (GRB) introductory records management online tutorial. This tutorial will take about 45 minutes to read through and includes brief quizzes along the way. You may leave the tutorial at any time; just be aware of the last page you read, so you can return to that page when you return. This tutorial is based on the Managing Public Records workshop also offered by the GRB. The information covered in this tutorial is intended as an introduction to your responsibilities in records management as a local government employee. Additional tutorials are available covering more advanced topics that may be relevant to your position in local government. If you have questions or would like more information, please visit the GRB Web site to locate the appropriate contact information.

Objectives

This tutorial will cover:

• Public Records Laws
• Records Management Principles
• Values of Public Records
• Vital Records Protection
• Managing Public Records using a Records Retention and Disposition Schedule
• Brief Overview
• Electronic Records Management:
• E-mail Management
• Scanning Public Records
• Disaster Preparedness
• Your Responsibilities Regarding Public Access and the Daily Management of Your Records

Public Records Laws

State and local agencies and state-supported universities are required by law to manage their records to ensure access.  For a quick review, let's take a look at the general statutes that affect public records.  If you want to see the full text of these statutes, follow the link in the Learn More sidebar.

General Statute §121: Archives and History Act

• § 121-4(2)
• Assigns records management responsibility for state and local agencies and state-supported universities to the Department of Cultural Resources (DCR).
• The State Records Center and records management programs are established.
• § 121-5
• § 121-5 (b) regulates the destruction of public records by stating that no agency can destroy records without the consent of DCR.  (Consent is granted to state and local agencies and state-supported universities through the development and implementation of records retention and disposition schedules.)
• § 121-5 (c) directs DCR to assist state and local agencies in the management of their records.  DCR does this through consultations, workshops, and writing retention and disposition schedules.

General Statute §132: Public Records Law

• Defines a public record in the State of North Carolina
• Sets out, in detail, provisions governing access to public records
• Establishes confidentiality of certain public records

• § 132-1
• § 132-1(a) defines public records: "Public record" or "public records" shall mean all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data-processing records, artifacts, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions.
• §132-1(b) states that "The public records and public information compiled by the agencies of North Carolina government or its subdivisions are the property of the people.  Therefore, it is the policy of this State that the people may obtain copies of their public records and public information free or at minimal cost…"
• § 132-6 discusses access to public records. 
• § 132-6 (c) states that "No request…shall be denied on the grounds that confidential information is commingled with the requested non-confidential information…" 
• This section deals with confidential information that may be part of a public record.  To fulfill the request for these records you may need to redact or remove the information that is confidential from the record before providing it for public inspection.  Redaction must also be performed on electronic records.  If there is a database that has both confidential and non-confidential information in it, you must provide the non-confidential information to anyone who requests it.
• § 132-6.1 addresses the proliferation of electronic records in state and local government. 
• § 132-6.1 (a) states that "… no public agency shall acquire any system for public records unless it will not impair the agency's ability to permit public inspection…"
• This provision is in place to ensure that agencies don't purchase equipment which makes it harder on the public to gain access to records, and places the responsibility for redaction on the agency.  Your office must have a plan to provide public access to electronic or digital records.
• § 132-6.1 (b) directs agencies to index databases. (See Public Database Indexing Guidelines.) This section indicates that database indexes are required by law.  This requirement is a good idea for all databases, and can help you keep an inventory or guide to databases within a department.
• § 132-6.2
• § 132-6.2 (a) indicates: "Persons requesting copies of public records may elect to obtain them in any and all media in which the public agency is capable of providing them..." 
• Example: a citizen can request a copy of a record on a CD, or in paper; however, if they request a record on a transparency, and your office does not keep transparencies, you may decline the request to place the record on transparencies. 
• § 132-6.2(b) states "No person requesting to inspect and examine public records…shall be required to disclose the purpose or motive for the request.
• While you cannot require a person to disclose their reason for the request, you can inquire about the reason if it will help you provide them with what they want; however, knowing the reason cannot be used to deny access to the records.
• § 132-6.2(f) states that "… the inspection or copying of any public record…may be made subject to reasonable restrictions intended to preserve the particular record." 
• This section provides you with the ability to protect records that could be damaged by public inspection.  In most cases this section refers to records that are very old (100+ years).  If you have such records, contact us so that we can assist in preserving them. 
• § 132- 7 addresses the preservation of public records by the custodian, and provides guidance for keeping your records safe.  For example:
• Avoid storing your records in flood-prone basements
• Avoid storing your records under leaky roofs
• Keep records secure by locking up confidential records
• § 132-9 provides remedies for those denied access to public records. 

For further information about public records laws, click the N.C. General Assembly link in the Learn More sidebar on the left of this page.

Assess your knowledge of NC public records laws by answering this multiple choice Quiz Me question.

Confidential Records

Confidential records are public records that are exempt from public inspection according to the provisions of state and/or federal statutes and/or regulations.

Examples of state statutes are:

• G.S. § 126-22, which covers state employees' personnel records
• G.S. § 132-1.7, which states that detailed drawings or plans of public buildings and infrastructure--blueprints for example--are not public records and not available for public viewing

Examples of federal statutes are:

• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which covers health care, medical records, treatments, and billing information.
• FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), which covers student educational records.

When we write schedules, based on your input, we try in every relevant case to supply the citation to a statute if you tell us that records are not open to public inspection. If a record is not covered by such a statute, then remember that the public may see and inspect the record.

Remember that when confidential records are destroyed, the method of destruction, whether for paper or electronic records, should not expose confidential records to unauthorized persons.

For further information, click the link in the Learn More sidebar on the left of this page to read Laws Relating to Confidential Records Held by North Carolina Government.

Assess your knowledge of Confidential records by answering this true/false Self Check question.

Records Management Principles

Records management is described in G.S. § 132-8.1 as "…the application of efficient and economical management methods [for] the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of official records…" 

Records Management includes:

• Developing a records retention and disposition schedule
• Following the provisions of the schedule
• Managing a filing and information retrieval system, in any format (electronic or paper)
• Ensuring, according to archival and records management practices, adequate protection of records in any format, that are vital, archival, or confidential
• Storing active and inactive records in an economical and space-effective manner
• Maintaining public records in a format that facilitates access by the public

Life Cycle of a Record

All records have the same life cycle, regardless of whether they are in electronic, microfilm, paper, or any other format. Records are created; they are used; they are disposed of.  But as you will learn, disposing of records does not necessarily mean that they are destroyed.

  Assess your knowledge of the Benefits of Managing Public Records by answering this multiple answer Test Yourself question.

Values of Public Records

All records are created for some purpose and therefore have a particular kind of value. Records are assigned four kinds of value under records management principles.

Administrative Value

Records with administrative value are the ones that help your office do its work and thereby accomplish the functions for which your office or agency was created.  Occasionally, these records have lasting importance. For example, procedure manuals may be needed to verify how something was done at a certain point. Other administrative records, however, such as purchase orders for red pens, are not needed for a long period of time. Some examples of records with administrative value are: 

• Procedure manuals
• Records schedules
• Memos
• Reports

Fiscal Value

Fiscal records fulfill and document fiscal authorizations, obligations, and transactions and are often subject to audits.  If you believe that it is possible that an audit may take place in the future, do not destroy any records, even if your records schedule says that you may. Once audits have been resolved, fiscal records often lose their value rapidly. Some examples of records with fiscal value are:

• Budget records
• Expenditure ledgers
• Credit card reports
• Payroll records

Legal Value

Records with legal value contain evidence of legally enforceable rights or obligations of government or of its citizens and, like fiscal records, can often be subject to official actions such as subpoenas, audits, investigations, or lawsuits. They must be made available if they are requested for litigation. And just as you should not destroy records if you believe there might be an audit, you should not destroy records if you believe there might be a lawsuit filed against your office, even if the records have met their scheduled retention period.

A common example of a record that would fall into this category is a job application.  We routinely schedule the applications for people not hired to be destroyed in office after 3 years, unless there is a discrimination charge pending against those records.  If a charge has been filed, the records must be kept at least until the charge is finally resolved. If you have concerns about some of your records, be sure to bring that up with your records analyst. Some examples of records with legal value are:

• Contracts
• Agreements
• Federal or state statutory or regulatory requirements  

Historical Value

Historical or archival records document significant events, actions, decisions, conditions, relationships, and similar developments.  These records have administrative, legal, fiscal, or evidential importance for the government or its citizens.  Part of DCR's responsibility is to try to ensure that these and other parts of the historical record of this state are preserved.  These records often need greater consideration when planning for long-term access and preservation.  Examples include:

• Marriage bonds and marriage licenses
• Governors' correspondence
• Directors' correspondence
• Agency histories
• Wills
• Land records
• Board minutes

Assess your knowledge of Values of Public Records by answering this multiple choice Quiz Me question.

Vital Records Protection

Another category of records within your office is vital (or essential) records. Vital records are those records that are necessary to re-start an organization's operations in the event of a natural or human-made disaster.

Vital records also

• Support critical, vital, necessary and desired services
• Preserve the legal, financial, and/or functional status of the agency
• Protect and fulfill obligations to citizens of the state
• Identify unique records

In the corporate world, natural or human-made disasters sometimes mean that businesses are not able to re-start because they have lost the very records that would enable them to continue.  In local government, we can help you identify which records are vital to your office and we will help you with a plan to protect the essential records that both your agency and the citizens whom your agency serves need.

Assess your knowledge of Vital records by answering this true/false Self Check question.

Managing Public Records using a Records Retention and Disposition Schedule

General Statutes §121-4 and §121-5 grant DCR the authority and responsibility to implement a records management program and provide consultative services to state and local agencies and state-supported universities.

What is a "records retention and disposition schedule"?

This document is a tool for the employees of local governments across the state to use when managing the records in their offices.  It lists records (record series) commonly found in local government offices, and gives an assessment of their value (administrative, fiscal, legal, and/or historical) by indicating when (and if) those records should be destroyed.  This schedule is also an agreement between your county and municipality and the Department of Cultural Resources.

Why do I need to consult a records schedule?

According to G.S. 121-5 and G.S. 132-3, you may only destroy public records with the consent of the Department of Cultural Resources.  This schedule is the primary way DCR gives its consent.  Without approving a schedule, your county or municipality is obligated to obtain permission to destroy any record, no matter how insignificant.

How do you get the schedule approved?

This schedule must be approved by your governing board for use in your county or municipality.  That approval should be made in a regular meeting and recorded as an action in the minutes.  It may be done as part of the consent agenda, by resolution, or other action.

The Local Records Unit of the Department of Cultural Resources creates and updates the records schedules for local governments. To access the records schedules, click the links in the Learn More sidebar on the left of this page. The records schedules can also be found on the Government Records Branch Web site.

Format of a Records Schedule                            

A records schedule includes:

• Signature page
• Introduction that discusses:
• Using the records schedule
• Destruction of public records
• Records management workshops
• Microfilm and disaster assistance
• E-mail guidelines
• Standards, by which records series and disposition instructions are organized for separate functions

--Most records schedules will include the following standards:

• Administration & Management
• Budget, Fiscal, and Payroll
• Information Technology
• Legal
• Personnel
• Public Relations
• Risk Management
• Program Operational (listing those records that are unique to your Department)
• Request Forms
• Index

Elements of a Record Series

A record series refers to a group of similar records that are arranged according to a filing system and that are related as the result of being created, received, or used in the same activity (ex. Personnel File). A record series includes a record series title, description, disposition instructions, and in some instances, citations.

• The record series title is a brief phrase summarizing the form, function and/or subject of the records without the use of agency jargon or abbreviations. 
• For example, Communication Services Use Tax Returns is a more meaningful records series title than Form DR-700019; and Highway Planning Maps would be a more meaningful record series title than Road Files.
• The description of the record series identifies the purpose and function of the record series' with regard to the agency's operations.  It indicates how the record series is used, why it was created, and the types of information or subject matter the records contain.
• The disposition instructions:
• Instruct you on how long to keep the records and what to do with them. Examples:   
• Retain in office permanently.
• Destroy in office after 5 years.
• Set minimum retention periods.  Your office may elect to retain records longer, but be aware of the increased expense for storage and potential adverse legal consequences.  Keep in mind that the destruction of non-permanent records, when authorized by a records schedule, is a necessary part of good office and records management. 
• Are based on federal and state laws and regulations, records management practices, and your agency's administrative need.
• Include information about whether the record is subject to litigation or audit, and advises not to destroy your records if they are or may become involved in a legal action or an audit.  If you are uncertain, contact your department's legal counsel.
• The citation is applied to specific records that include confidential information and must be withheld from public inspection.  In this section of the record series, the specific state or federal statute will be cited for your reference.

The following is an example of a records schedule item:

How do I destroy a record once it has met its retention period?

After your county or municipality has approved your retention and disposition schedule, records should be destroyed in one of the following ways, as outlined in the NC Administrative Code 7.4.M.0510:

• burning
• shredding
• placing in acid vats
• burying
• selling as waste paper, provided that the purchaser agrees in writing that the documents or materials concerned will not be resold as documents or records.

How can I destroy records if they are not listed on a retention and disposition schedule?

Contact the Records Management Analyst assigned to your county or municipality.  Your analyst will discuss the nature of the records with you to determine if the records have historical value.  If the records do have historical value, we will discuss the possibility of transferring the records to the State Archives to be preserved permanently.

If the records do not have historical value, we will ask you to complete a Request and Approval of Unscheduled Records Disposal (located at the end of the schedule), if the records are not currently created. 

If the records are an active records series, your analyst will help you develop an amendment to the schedule so that you can continue to destroy the records appropriately.

Do I have to tell anyone about the destruction?

We recommend that you report on your records retention activities to your governing board on an annual basis.  This report does not need to be detailed, but it is important that significant destructions be entered into the minutes of the Board.

Records Management Day

One way to incorporate records management into your office on a regular basis is to schedule a "Records Management Day".  The Local Records Unit recommends at least one day per year when everyone disposes of their records according to the approved records schedule.  An old saying is that if you don't manage your records, they will manage you!

Assess your knowledge of Records Retention and Disposition Schedules by answering this matching Quiz Me question.

Electronic Records Management: A Brief Overview

Electronic records are public records and subject to the same laws as paper records.  Public records include anything created in the course of public business regardless of format. This includes any type of electronic record and could be an Access database, e-mail, Word documents, images, or Web sites.  Keep in mind that a public record is defined by its content.

An electronic record is a series of 1s and 0s that require computer hardware and software to interpret and present. Unlike information written on paper or available on microfilm, electronic records are not human-readable. They require something – hardware and software – to translate those 1s and 0s into a language we can understand and see.  Because electronic records rely on technology to be accessible, they require active management if you plan on being able to read them more than five years from now.

Creating Trustworthy Electronic Records

Electronic records, like paper records, can have serious implications in court cases, and can be requested during e-discovery.  Creating and maintaining trustworthy and admissible electronic records involves complying with the specific guidelines set out in the publication, North Carolina Guidelines for Managing Public Records Produced by Information Technology Systems.  You must be prepared to create an electronic records policy for your office.  The basics that should be included are:

• Passwords
• Everyone should have a password on his/her computer.  The passwords should follow guidelines to create safe passwords; they should be long, complicated, and changed frequently.
• Back-ups
• Routine back-ups should take place according to your office's back-up schedule; the back-ups should be labeled, checked for accuracy, and examined annually.  Store a back-up in secure off-site storage, and maintain at least one copy within the office. Current recommendations for hurricane-prone areas indicate that back-ups should be stored over 80 miles from the original site, in a region less affected by hurricanes. 
• Physical and intellectual security
• Protect the hardware – consider who has access to computers, disks, and external hard drives -- but also protect the software and files. Who can modify files or move them?  Identify potential causes of errors and maintain records of all inspections.  Explain your prevention strategies for errors and document all provisions against unauthorized access.
• File-naming
• Apply the Best Practices for File-naming available on the DCR Web site (follow the link in the sidebar) to implement file-naming standards for your office. Consider which abbreviations you will use, and which kind of file structure.
• State and federal laws and regulations
• All policies should comply with state and federal laws.
• Record-keeping practices
• Explain your record keeping practices, and show that records were created during the normal course of business.  Show that your records are reliable and provide an audit trail if necessary.  Also, document that your records are legally disposed of in accordance with the records schedule.
• System Operation
• Document specific hardware and software applications, and all aspects of system operation, including information that operation is monitored and all problems are quickly resolved.

Once you have an electronic records policy, ensure that everyone in your office is trained on the policy, including new employees. Making training a regular part of your records management will ensure compliance. 

Destroying Electronic Records

Unless they are archival, electronic records, like paper records, should be destroyed in accordance with the records schedule. And, like paper records, electronic records generate many copies. When it is time to destroy these records, the electronic copies should be destroyed as well.  Keep in mind that simply hitting the delete key on a computer does not delete the file – it merely removes the index pointer and allows the file to be written over.  It is possible to re-create files from hard drives, diskettes, and servers that were deleted with the delete button.  Ensure that when you destroy electronic records, they are destroyed.  This is especially important when surplusing old computers. Recommended methods for destroying electronic records include, in some cases, the physical destruction of the media on which electronic data is written; consult your IT office or department for further details on technical issues such as wiping hard drives on surplused computers.

For a further discussion of electronic records management, please take the time to complete our "Managing Electronic Public Records: Recognizing Perils and Avoiding Pitfalls" tutorial. 

Also consult the GRB Web site for additional guidance.

E-mail Management

 (The following section may be modified by the provisions of Executive Order No. 18 ["E-Mail Retention and Archiving Policy"], signed by Governor Beverly Eaves Perdue on July 7, 2009. Consult your county legal department. To learn more about Executive Order No. 18, and about guidelines and policies for e-mail retention, follow the links in the Learn More sidebar.)

Electronic mail is just as much a record as any traditional paper record, and its content must be treated in the same way.  It is the content of each message that is important.  If a particular message would have been filed as a paper memo, it should still be filed (either in your email program or in your regular directory structure), and it should be retained the same length of time as its paper counterparts.  It is inappropriate to destroy email simply because storage limits have been reached.

Three of our publications will be particularly helpful (available online at http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/default.htm):

• E-Mail as a Public Record in North Carolina: Guidelines for its Retention and Disposition
• E-Mail User Guidelines Checklist
• North Carolina Public Records with Short-Term Value: Guidelines for their Retention and Disposition

Transitory and Personal E-mail

E-mail can frequently be used to send both personal messages and transitory work-related messages. Personal messages to fellow colleagues about lunch plans are not considered public records and should not be saved.  (IMPORTANT: see below, "Proper Management of E-mail.")Transitory work-related messages should also not be retained for a long period of time.   Examples of transitory e-mails include:

• "While you were out" messages
• Publications (that your office did not create)
• Duplicate Messages (mass e-mailings from your HR department)

The only exception is that some e-mail messages contain both personal and business-related information; if this is the case, these e-mail messages must be managed as a public record, according to the records schedule. Personal correspondence using government e-mail should be kept to a minimum and organized separately from business-related correspondence.   See e-mail checklist.

IT's Role

IT is responsible for the computing infrastructure and for the receipt, storage, and transmission of e-mail.  IT is also responsible for system maintenance, including:

• Software
• Storage
• Back-ups

 As a records custodian, you are responsible for records management, including:

• Assessing and classifying
• Distributing
• Filing
• Disposing of or retaining records

Proper Management of E-mail

Properly managing your e-mail includes:

• Acting on business correspondence
• Manage your e-mail in a timely way
• Follow your records schedule: 
• Manage and file your e-mail electronically
• Destroy outdated records routinely
• Destroy electronic and paper records at the same time
• Ensure security
• Avoid using e-mail (e-mail systems are usually insecure) to transmit confidential information
• Destroy records in a secure manner, especially e-mail with confidential information
• Consult your IT department regarding any questions in this area

Match the subject line of an e-mail with the value of the message or the reason for saving it in this short quiz:

Scanning Public Records

Many local government agencies throughout North Carolina have started scanning projects or are considering going paperless.  A few things to keep in mind if you are planning a scanning project are:

• You can scan any record you like
• Scanning is not required
• Balance the cost and the benefit: sometimes offsite storage or microfilm is a better choice
• There is more to a scanning project than just scanning the documents. Consider:
• Document preparation, such as removing paper clips, flattening documents
• Quality control
• Indexing
• Maintenance (i.e. storage, conversion)

Destroying Converted Records

Once you have converted paper records to a scanned digital image, you may destroy the paper record as long as it is not a permanent record.  Prior to destroying the records, we ask you to submit the following documents:

1. Imaging Policy for your office; sample policies can be obtained from our office
2. Self-warranty Form, which is available as part of "NC Guidelines for Managing Public Records Produced by Information Technology Systems"
3. Request for Destruction of Records Duplicated by Electronic Means Form, which can be obtained from our office

Human-readable Preservation Duplicates

Records that are considered permanent records are required to be preserved in a human-readable format, either

• Paper
• Microfilm

If you are interested in scanning these records for access and retrieval purposes, the scanned image should be the reference copy. 

Disaster Preparedness

Keep in mind that "time taken to prevent damage to and loss of records is cheaper than the cost of disaster recovery." 

Steps to Disaster Preparedness

• Identify the risks:
• Geographic and climate hazards
• Man-made disasters
• Adjacent environmental risks
• Building and site risks
• Identify recovery vendors:  If possible, make prior contact with vendors and gather information on their capabilities and how they operate.
• Develop a communication strategy:  Determine how information will be communicated to staff during and after regular business hours.  Compile emergency contact information for:
• All staff members
• Lead and supervisory staff members (separate listing)
• Local emergency personnel
• State agency contacts
• Facility management staff
• Develop a written preparedness plan that:
• Identifies a staff member to head up the disaster preparedness efforts
• Includes a plan to train staff
• Distributed to all staff and local emergency personnel
• Is stored off-site
• Identifies vital records and prioritizes which records to save first; this includes being familiar with your records schedule and the records created in your office
• Includes provisions for compiling disaster recovery supplies.

Your Responsibilities Regarding Public Access and the Daily Management of Your Records

Public Records Requests

G.S. § 132-1 (b) states that public records are the property of the people of North Carolina. Therefore, these records must be made available when requested. If you receive a records request, contact your public information officer (PIO) immediately. He or she will work with you and anyone else affected by the request to respond promptly.

Maintaining Records

Records must not only be accessible, they must also be legally admissible as evidence in court. To ensure the authenticity and admissibility of your paper and electronic records, they must be:

• Authentic - Do the records come from whom they say they do?
• Reliable – Are the records free from unauthorized alteration or tampering?
• Complete- Are all the records accounted for? Have all the records covered by a request or a discovery process been provided?
• Timely - Was the information created/entered in a timely manner? At or near the time the transaction was conducted?

You must also be able to prove system integrity, meaning that the system in which the records are stored or managed is operating properly. Finally, records must be controlled so that access is available only to those who are authorized to view them, in order to protect records from corruption.

To be consistent in your day-to-day handling of records, all of these considerations should be addressed. We will talk about the next steps required to make sure you and your agency are prepared for your records responsibilities in the following section.

Next Steps

• Review your schedule

Review the schedule applicable to your agency.  Contact your records management analyst with any questions about the schedule. It is important to keep him or her informed about how the staff uses the schedule so that he or she can then make revisions as needed.

• Organize your records

Now that you know your responsibilities as a local government employee, and you have reviewed what constitutes public records, get organized!  Make sure your filing cabinets and folders online are designed so that you and others who access them can find records when needed.

• Dispose of records when allowed

One of the best advantages of going by your records retention and disposition schedule is the opportunity to dispose of records when authorized to do by the schedule.  It is important to do this regularly, in the normal course of business, to ensure that the agency is complying with legal statutes. Be sure to destroy confidential records in a manner that does not expose confidential data.

• Transfer records when allowed

• Protect your records

Review the records that might be confidential in your agency and take steps to protect confidential information and vital records.

If your records need to be kept long-term, then take steps to ensure that both archival paper records and archival electronic records are preserved for later years.  Whether archival or non-archival, electronic records present a special challenge from the moment of their creation, given their rapid obsolescence and the instability of computer systems and electronic media. With hardware and software changing so rapidly, you need to have a plan in place for how you intend to keep those records readable into the future.

Conclusion

Properly managing public records is an essential responsibility of local government employees. Be consistent in following your records schedule and take advantages of the resources available that are listed in the following section. The best way to manage your records is to act as if someone else would be able to find anything in your online files or in a filing cabinet. Following the retention and disposition schedule is only possible if you can locate your records, and it is much easier to do so if they are organized.

Additional tutorials are available, covering electronic records and how to organize files of all types. Visit the Government Records Branch Web site to learn more about the online tutorials and workshops offered regularly on-site at the GRB.

 Assess your knowledge of Your Responsibilities as Custodians of Public Records by answering this multiple choice Quiz Me question.

Resources

NC Government Records Branch Web site: http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/

Electronic Public Records: http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/erecords/default.htm

NC General Assembly: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/

E-mail Records Management Guidelines

• E-Mail as a Public Record in North Carolina: Guidelines for its Retention and Disposition

http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/erecords/Email_8_02.pdf

• E-Mail User Guidelines Checklist

http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/erecords/Emailchecklist.pdf 

General Records Management Resources

• Department of Cultural Resources, Government Records Branch Guidelines for Public Records

http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/guidelines.htm

• Information Technology Services Statewide Information Security Manual

http://www.scio.state.nc.us/SITPoliciesAndStandards/Statewide_Information_Security_Manual.asp

Guidelines Specific to Counties, Municipalities, and Regional Organizations

• Records Retention and Disposition Schedules for Counties and Municipalities

http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/local/default.htm

• Records Management for Local Government

http://www.records.ncdcr.gov/local.htm

• Local Records Management Analysts
• Imaging Services for Local Agencies
• Forms
• Workshops

Records Management Definitions

(Based on Richard Pearce-Moses, A Glossary of Archival & Records Terminology. Society of American Archivists, 2005.)

Administrative value refers to the usefulness or significance of records to support ancillary operations and the routine management of the organization.

Citation refers to the specific state or federal statute that applies to the confidentiality restrictions of a records series.   

Confidential records are records that are exempt from public access.

Disposition instructions are specific directions regarding the manner in which records are to be disposed of (i.e., keep them permanently, destroy them, or transfer to the State Archives).  

E-discovery refers to the process that compels a party in a lawsuit to disclose evidence and electronic information relevant to the case.

Fiscal value refers to the usefulness or significance of records containing financial information that is necessary to conduct current or future business or that serves as evidence of financial transactions. 

Historical value (also archival value; continuing value) refers to the importance or usefulness of records that justifies their continued preservation because of the enduring administrative, legal, fiscal, or evidential information they contain. 

Legal value refers to the usefulness or significance of records to document and protect the rights and interests of an individual or organization, to provide for defense in litigation, to demonstrate compliance with laws and regulations, or to meet other legal needs. 

Migration refers to converting your files to a new format or a new version of a format. (i.e., migrating your .doc files to .rtf format).

Records schedule refers to a list of record series that relate to the substantive activities an organization undertakes to accomplish its mission or mandate; operational records.  

Records Series or Series refers to a group of similar records that are arranged according to a filing system and that are related as the result of being created, received, or used in the same activity; a file group (i.e., Personnel File).

Redaction is the process of concealing sensitive information in a document before being released to someone not authorized to see that information.

Refreshing is replacing the media on which digital files are stored. For example, considering the life span of some CDs and DVDs, you might want to refresh data on older discs every two or three years.

Signature page refers to the page attached to your records schedule, which is signed by the head of your agency and/or governing board, and the Secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources. 

Vital Records (also essential records) are emergency-operating records immediately necessary to begin recovery of operations after a disaster, and rights-and-interests records necessary to protect the assets, obligations, and resources of the organization, as well as its employees and customers or citizens.