Indiana Township Association ConferenceSeptember 25, 2013

“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.”

What Does That Include? Paper Film and microforms Website Email Data in a database Born-digital records Scanned/Digitized images Audio files Social Media Metadata and Indexes

How is the length of retention determined?Generally, Records Management staff work

with an agency to identify:The Administrative and Fiscal valueLegal valuePublic Demand and Interest, andHistorical value of the information

Paper, Film, Electronic, Stone TabletsRetention is based upon content – NOT storage

media

County /Local General Retention Schedule (GEN) – NEW General Retention Financial (COGRFIN) - DELETED Township Trustee Retention Schedule (TT) - REVISED County Auditors' Retention Schedule (AU) - REVISED County Clerks: Miscellaneous Records (CL) - REVISED County Coroner: General Retention Schedule (CO) - NEW County Recorders (RE) - REVISED County Treasurers (TR) – REVISED

The local retention schedules are located at: in.gov/icpr/2739.htm

This Retention Schedule is divided into five (5) categories: 1. Administrative2. Accounting and Finance3. Personnel4. Publications and Reports5. Audio, Video and General Media

Retention periods for some records are increased in length of time to be retained because current Indiana Code statute of limitations have been applied to all records on this schedule.

It’s often illegal to destroy government records if you do not have an approved records retention schedule or permission from the records oversight organization.

Indiana Law:

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 5-15-5.1-1-14

Transitory: can be destroyed immediately.

Short-term: generally ten years or less.

Long-term: greater than ten years and not permanent.

Permanent: A long, long time; like forever.

In many jurisdictions, you can only destroy permanent paper records if you MICROFILM the original paper records.

If you digitize Permanent records, or they are submitted electronically, they may also be REQUIRED to be converted to microfilm.

Digital records are generally NOT recognized as Permanent format to preserve information.

Challenges of Digital Technology• Fragile media• Technology dependence• Technology obsolescence• Distributed storage

– Where is the record copy?– Chain of custody

• Easy to copy, hard to preserve• Explosive growth

“There is considerable controversy over the physical lifetimes of media: for example, some claim that tape will last for 200 years, whereas others report that it often fails in a year or two. However, physical lifetime is rarely the limiting factor, since at any given point in time, a particular format of a given medium can be expected to become obsolete within no more than 5 years.”

Jeff Rothenberg, ”Ensuring the Lifetime of Digital Information”

Physical Avg. Time Medium Lifetime Until Obsolete

optical (CD) 5-59 years 5 years

digital tape 2-30 years 5 years

magnetic disk 5-10 years 5 years

How can we verify our electronic records?Algorithms to check size, degradation and file

modificationsPDF/A: an archival PDF that is a more

preservable and less complex that a regular PDF.

What about redaction to provide public access to partially confidential records?Never redact in a way that changes the original

record, always redact on the copy for the public.

This summer, ICPR and the SHRAB will be offering a series of records management workshops across Indiana:Preservation of recordsArchival BasicsElectronic RecordsGovernment records

IPER Training – Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential

Records this spring - webinars

IN.gov/icpr/2359: Specific to County/Local Records◦ Records Retention Schedules◦ Example of County E-Mail Retention Policy

(Bartholomew Co.◦ Guide to Preservation and Destruction of Local Public

Record ◦ Forms (for county/local records)◦ County and Local Government Links

General Records Management◦ What is a Retention Schedule?◦ Publications◦ Laws◦ Links◦ Records Disaster Prevention and Reporting

IC 5-15-6-13Access to historic records Sec. 13. The commission shall weigh

the need for preservation from deterioration or mutilation of original records in establishing access to such items, if a true and accurate copy is available subject to the approval of the ISARA.

IC 5-15-6-14

Delivery of records by public official to successor     Sec. 15. (a) A public official who has the custody of any records, excluding personal records, shall at the expiration of his term of office or appointment, in accordance with an approved records retention schedule deliver to his successor, or to the ISARA, all materials defined as records by this chapter.    (b) Upon the termination of a unit of local government whose functions have not been transferred to another unit, the records of the unit shall be deposited with the ISARA. The ISARA shall determine which records are of sufficient legal, historical, administrative, research or fiscal value to warrant their continued preservation. Records that are determined to be of insufficient value to warrant continued preservation shall be disposed of or destroyed.

IC 5-15-6-15

Establishment of policies, standards and rules

Sec. 15. Local governments are subject to all policies, standards and rules adopted by the ISARA or the Oversight Committee on Public Records established by IC 5-15-5.1-18.

Honoring the Delegates

June of 2016 Wreath

Laying Ceremonies

Exhibition of State Treasures

Constitutions Artifacts

Delegate Book

92 County Run in the Fall of 2016

December 2016 – Indianapolis

2016 MedallionConservation

Project with DNR

Jim Corridan & Bev StiersIndiana Commission on Public Records

bstiers@icpr.in.gov317-232-3380