Managing Electronic Public Records

Recognizing Perils and Avoiding Pitfalls

Public Records Laws

Why Do We Need to Talk About Public Records?

Electronic records are public records and subject to the same laws as paper records. Two general statutes address the government's legal obligation to take care of its records. The first is the Archives and History Act, G.S. 121, which assigns records management authority to the Department of Cultural Resources (DCR), regulates the destruction of public records, and instructs DCR to provide assistace to public officers in managing records. Read G.S. 121 in its entirety via the link in the sidebar.

G.S. 132 is the Public Records Act, which identifies public records as the property of the people. This means that we, as state employees, are required to maintain public records and provide access to them upon request. G.S. 132 also defines the term public record.

G.S. § 132-1(a)

"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.

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. Click the link in the sidebar to learn more about the Public Records Act.

Public Records Require a Retention Schedule

All material you create and handle in your role as a state employee should be managed according to your agency's records retention and disposition schedule, which is an agreement between DCR and your agency.

A records retention and disposition schedule lists records as items. The general schedule covers the items that are generally applicable to all state agencies, like budget records and personnel files. The program schedule is specific to each agency and the records that agency creates; for example, the program schedule for DENR will be different from ITS. If there are any differences in how the general and program schedules instruct you to handle a record, always follow your agency-specific program schedule. The program schedule is developed by the Government Records Branch in consultation with your agency's staff. Any differences reflect the needs of your agency.

In reviewing your agency's schedule, if you notice anything that seems outdated, or missing information, contact your chief records officer (CRO), who is the point person for your agency when making changes to the schedule.

 

 

Value: 1

An agency does not have to provide access to files that are difficult to retrieve. True False

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