Indiana Commission on Public Records 402 W. Washington St. - Rm. W472 - Indianapolis IN Amy Robinson, Records Analyst

1. ICPR and You: Working Together to Manage Agency Records 2. What are Public Records? 3. Records Management: What’s the Big Deal? 4. Records Management: How do I DO that? 5. Special Issue: Electronic Records

The ICPR shall do the following: Establish a state wide records management program, prescribing the standards and procedures for recordmaking and recordkeeping. IC (4)

J Forms Management J Records Management J Micrographics J Records Center J State Archives

J Employee from your agency who is officially designated to be the first point of contact with ICPR and sign off on records management documents J Listed by agency on the ICPR website J Other agency staff often work with ICPR on specific projects or to transfer records for storage

1. Maintain an efficient file structure in your office 2. Become familiar with records retention schedules and how to read them 3. Work with ICPR to keep those records retention schedules up to date

4. Be aware of any special issues with electronic records, and include your technology staff in decisions about them 5. Become familiar with records transfer, storage, and destruction procedures 6. Teach what you learn about records management to others in your agency!

Any writing, paper, report, study, map, photograph, card, tape recording, or other material that is created, received, retained, maintained, used or filed by a public agency and which is generated on paper, paper substitutes, photographic media, chemically based media, electronically stored data, or any other material, regardless of form or characteristics. IC (9)

A fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government is that government is the servant of the people and not their master. Accordingly, it is the public policy of the state that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees. IC

Phone: (317)

Deals with the public and state and local government agencies on issues of:  Access to Public Records  Confidentiality  Privacy

 Birth: the creation of appropriate, necessary, and useful records  Active status: business function or process  Semi-active or inactive status: no immediate need, but potential value  Final disposition: destruction or transfer to the Indiana State Archives

1. Accountability  State and Federal law, judicial system, state government hierarchy, and taxpayers all rely on us to manage public records properly 2. Space Management  If you’re storing boxes in your office that you don’t need there, your agency is losing money and workspace. 3. Government History  Proper archiving of public records provides long-term accountability for agencies, documentary history of state government, and valuable research information for the public.

A public official may not mutilate, destroy, sell, loan, or otherwise dispose of any government record, except under a retention schedule or with the written consent of the commission (on public records). IC

 Arranged into “Record Series” which describe a similar group of records that all have the same basic function and retention requirements.  A Record Series has:  Title  Unique “Record Series Number”  Description of record types that would fall under it  Instructions for where, in what form and how long they should be stored, and what to do with them afterwards. Records Retention Schedules

 Contains basic Record Series that apply to most state agencies.  Your agency’s specific retention schedule should be revised to remove any records covered by the GR.

Agency-Specific Retention Schedule n Contains record series unique to the agency and agency functions. n Should not contain items covered by the General Retention Schedule n Can only be used to apply to your agency (other agencies may not apply your retention schedule to their records!)

RRecords Analyst and Agency Staff Work Together II nventory records and identify agency’s needs for retention/disposition AA gency legal staff identifies statutory requirements RRecords Analyst Creates Draft AA dds new items if appropriate UU pdates language for existing items if needed SS uggests deletions of obsolete, non-record, and General Retention items DDraft is Circulated For Review BB y agency BB y State Archivist and selected OCPR pre-readers OOversight Committee on Public Records AA pproves or suggests changes at monthly board meeting

 Due to previous practice of updating only by agency request, many agency records retention schedules have not been updated for decades  Now, we’re going to be approaching the agencies with update suggestions in addition to agencies approaching us when necessary  ICPR’s initial goal is to review and update all agency records retention schedules that have not been updated within the last 10 years  Where possible, record series will be eliminated or combined, to make retention schedules streamlined and easy to follow  Where possible, agency retention schedules will be eliminated completely, if all records can be covered by the General Retention Schedule.  In the future, a regular review cycle will be established for all agencies.

 Stores and provides retrieval services for semi-active or inactive records for state agencies.  Records must be pre-approved for Records Center storage on a retention schedule: either the agency’s specific retention schedule or the General Retention Schedule.  Ownership of the records remains with the agency.  Only the agency, persons given permission by the agency, and ICPR staff may view records stored at the Records Center.  Records Center staff will dispose of records according to the retention schedule at the end of their retention period, with the agency’s permission.

 Records Center staff will destroy both records stored there, and (upon request) records stored at your agency, as long as they are approved for destruction on a records retention schedule.  Agency will receive a Destruction Notice from the RC if records are stored there.  Agency must submit Destruction Notice to the RC if requesting courtesy destruction, or if agency staff will be destroying records themselves.

ALSO used by Records Center to notify agency of records being transferred to State Archives instead of destroyed.

 Permanently catalogues and stores records of legal and historical value  Records must be pre-approved for State Archives transfer on a retention schedule: either the agency’s specific retention schedule or the General Retention Schedule.  Provides access to the public and other government agencies, within confidentiality requirements.  Ownership of records in the State Archives transfers to the Commission on Public Records. For details on transferring approved records to the Archives, call

 Microfilms approved state agency records  Processes and duplicates existing microfilm  Arranges for creation of COM (Computer Output Microfiche) from electronic records  Microfilms selected State Archives records for preservation See Record Coordinator’s Handbook Section Call for details on current Micrographics procedures!

Any officer, office, court, commission, board, institution, department, agent or employee of the state, county, or any political subdivision being charged with the duty or authorized or required by law to record, preserve, keep, maintain, or file any record, document, plat, paper or instrument-in- writing, may… for the purpose of recording or copying same, preserving or protecting same, reducing space required for storage or filing for same, or any similar purpose, have or cause to have any or all such records recorded, copied, or reproduced by any photostatic, photographic, micrographic, electronic, or any other process which correctly and accurately copies or reproduces, recreates or forms a medium of copying or reproducing the original record, document, plat, paper or instrument-in- writing.

 Public has the right to inspect no matter what the format (IC )  Public has the right to receive copies of electronic records (IC )  Commercial use of Electronic Records (IC e)

 Promises  Require much less storage space  Faster retrieval  Online access  Problems  Unstable storage medium  Expensive, evolving technology  Reallocation of staff and resources

Jeff Rothenberg. ”Ensuring the Lifetime of Digital Information.”

1. Records with retention of 10 years or less may be scanned and hard copies destroyed, if scanning system is approved via ICPR Policy Electronic records (scanned or born-electronic) with a retention of longer than 10 years, or any scheduled for transfer to the State Archives, must be backed up to Computer Output Microfilm/fiche. ICPR Micrographics Division can help with this. 3. All electronic records should be updated/converted any time you switch to a new software or system, OR you must retain a copy of the old system for the retention period of the records.

 is correspondence. The same record series and retention periods apply as if you were holding a paper memo in your hand.  BUT all agencies should develop an internal policy on how employees should handle filing electronic correspondence.  See ICPR Retention Policy Guidelines for more information on developing one for your agency.

 Records Management:  Records Center:  State Archives:  Micrographics:  Public Access: or