What are public records?

Public records are defined by Kentucky statute (KRS 171.410 (1) as "all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, disks, diskettes, recordings and other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, which are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public agency."

What is a public agency?

For public records management purposes, a public agency is defined in KRS 171.410 (Section 4) as "every state or local office, state department, division, bureau, board, commission and authority; every legislative board, commission, committee, and officer; every county and city governing body, council, school district board, special district board, municipal corporation, and any board, department, commission, committee, subcommittee, adhoc committee, council or agency thereof; and any other body which is created by state or local authority and which derives at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its funds from state or local authority."

What is records management?

Records management is the systematic control of recorded information, regardless of format, from original creation to ultimate disposition. Every office creates records, whether in paper, film, electronic record, or some other format. These records can be a burden to maintain. Records management helps an organization decide which ones to keep and which ones to destroy. It helps an organization make sure it is creating and maintaining an adequate documentary record of its functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions. It permits the identification and proper control of records of continuing, or archival, value. It can give an organization the economy and efficiency it needs to operate effectively. It strives to provide the right information to the right person, at the right time, at the lowest possible cost. If you work in a publicly funded agency, you need a records management program.

What is disposition?

The term "disposition" as it is used here refers to what is done with records when they are no longer needed for current business. Disposition possibilities include transferring records from one agency to another when functions are officially transferred, transferring records to the State Records Center, destroying temporary records at an approved time, or transferring records of continuing value to the State Archives or other approved archival facility, when they have been deemed worthy of preservation.

Who has responsibility for public records management in Kentucky?

All state and local government employees are responsible for the records they create and maintain, and in that sense, they can make a major contribution to good records management intheir agencies on a daily basis. Kentucky law (KRS 171.410-740) assigns broad authority for the management of state and local government records to the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. The statutes also set out specific responsibilities delegated to the head of any public agency and to the State Archives and Records Commission. These are defined in more detail below.

Under Kentucky law, what are the records management responsibilities of an agency head?

The head of a public agency has a key role in ensuring the implementation of a records management program. By the terms of KRS 171.680, the agency head is required to establish and maintain an active, continuing program for the economical, efficient management of the records of his agency. The law mandates that this program should include:

effective controls over the creation, maintenance, and use of records in the conduct of current business;
cooperation with the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives in applying standards, procedures, and techniques designed to improve the management of records;
promotion of the maintenance and security of records considered appropriate for preservation, and facilitation of the segregation and disposal of records of temporary value; and
compliance with the provisions of the Commonwealth's public records management statutes, KRS 171.410 - 171.740 and the rules and regulations of the department.

What is a records retention schedule?

A key part of a fully implemented records management program is regular application and use of an approved records retention schedule. A schedule is a list of each record type, what is termed a "record series," and each electronic records system created by a public agency. A record series is simply a filing unit or document maintained as a unit because it relates to a particular subject or function, results from the same activity, has a particular form or because of some other relationship arising out of its creation, receipt or use. A current, accurate records retention schedule should represent a comprehensive inventory of the information holdings of a publicly funded agency.

Having an approved schedule is an important first step, but a schedule must be used on a regular basis by agency personnel for a records management program to be considered implemented. When an agency finds it must create new records or electronic systems or when it determines that certain records or systems are obsolete and are no longer being created, the schedule must also be revised to reflect these changes.

Once new or revised records schedules are approved by the Commission, agencies may apply schedules to their records management needs, with the confidence that they have the legal authority to make disposition of their records when following the directions contained in the schedule. The scheduling process is described in more detail below.

What is a Records Officer?

A Records Officer is the person named by the agency head to serve as his official liaison on records management issues with the Department for Libraries and Archives and to coordinate records management within the agency. He typically works with his agency's staff to compile (or update) a records retention schedule in draft form, prior to its review by Department for Libraries and Archives' personnel and the State Archives and Records Commission. The schedule is subject to detailed analysis at this stage, including an assessment by legal and audit staff to ensure that it meets relevant requirements in those areas for each record listed.

In addition to maintaining the currency of the agency's retention schedule, the Records Officer monitors records management practices in the agency, advises the agency head and agency staff on records management procedures, coordinates collection and forwarding of state publications, participates in the agency's Information Resources Planning process, coordinates the transfer of records, and supervises the authorized destruction of records which occurs within the agency.

What responsibilities do agencies have to document their activities?

While the schedule is a comprehensive expression of the agency's information resources, it also reflects the way an agency meets the requirements of KRS 171.640 and is accountable to legislative bodies and the public. Under the terms of that statute, the agency head is assigned explicit responsibility for ensuring that records containing adequate and proper documentation of the organizational functions,policies, decisions, procedures, and essential transactions of the agency. This would include records designed to furnish information necessary to protect the legal and financial rights of the government and of persons directly affected by a government agency's activities - are made and preserved.

What about state agency publications?

A state publication or report is any published material, regardless of format, issued for general distribution, which documents agency-related functions or activities. As such, a state publication may be considered a "published record." State government agencies publish hundreds of reports, newsletters, and studies each year. At times, a state publication may provide the only documentation of any agency or program's activity. State publications complement the information contained in agency files to present a full accounting of agency activity over time. It is therefore of primary importance that state agency publications be retained permanently for future generations.

How are state agency publications managed?

Kentucky laws (KRS 171.450d & 725 KAR 1:040 Section 1) provides that state agencies forward three (3) copies of all publications produced for general public distribution to the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Public Records Division. Within the division, the State Publications Program coordinates the collection and bibliographic control of these publications. Once a state publication is received, a bibliographic entry is added to the department's publications database. The publication is then microfilmed for preservation and public access, and one original copy is held permanently in the State Archives.

What about the proper storage and protection of records?

Another important role delegated to the agency is ensuring the proper storage of records. By the terms of KRS 171.690, whenever an agency head determines that substantial economies or increased operating efficiency can be achieved, he is directed to provide for the storage, processing and servicing of appropriate records in the State Records Center maintained and operated by the Department for Libraries and Archives or, when approved by the department, in a location maintained and operated by the agency itself.

Providing for the protection of records is another essential responsibility delegated to agencies, and as directed by KRS 171.710, the agency head is required to establish such safeguards against removal or loss of records as he believes necessary and as may be required by department rules and regulations. These safeguards must include making it known to all officials and employees of the agency that no records are to be transferred, turned over to another, or destroyed except in accordance with law, and calling their attention to the penalties provided by law for the unlawful removal or destruction of records.

The agency head is also directed to notify the department of any actual, impending or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration or destruction of records in the custody of the agency that may come to his attention, and with the department's assistance, to initiate action through the Attorney General for recovery of any records which may have been unlawfully removed and for any other redress as may be provided for by law. Penalties are established in statute for violations of the key elements of Kentucky's public records management law, and for state employees, these can include dismissal from state employment. Kentucky's tampering with public records statute (KRS 519.060) and its laws dealing with unlawful access to a computer (KRS 434.845-.850) and misuse of computer information (KRS 434.855) describe various records related offenses which are punishable as felonies under the Kentucky penal code.

What services does the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives provide in this process?
The department is responsible, under the terms of KRS 171.450, for managing and controlling records, in whatever medium, created by state and local government agencies in the Commonwealth. Specifically, under the terms of KRS 71.410-740, the department establishes standards, procedures, and administrative regulations for recording, managing, preserving and reproducing public (government-created or maintained) records.

Working in close collaboration with government agencies and their records officers, the department prescribes policies, principles and administrative regulations to be followed by those agencies in managing their records, provides records analysis and scheduling assistance to agencies, and furnishes technical assistance to agencies whose records have been damaged in disasters. It serves as the central repository for archival public records in Kentucky, and describes and creates finding aids to records in archival custody. Records housed at the State Archives are made available for research through the department's Archives Research Room. At the State Records Center, the department offers centralized storage and access services to government records of non-permanent retention and it sets rules governing the transfer of records from one agency to another.

What is records scheduling all about?

At the core of the department's program to manage government information is a systematic process of identifying, describing and analyzing each record and each electronic record system created by an agency. This leads in turn to a preliminary assessment of the administrative, legal, fiscal, and future historical or research value of each record type. These values, and any special directions for the management or disposition of this information during and after its active office life, are expressed in supporting documentation to a draft records retention schedule and are submitted to the State Archives and Records Commission which has final approval authority.

Records retention schedules, when approved by the commission, furnish public agencies with clear legal authority to make disposition of their records according to the schedules' terms, and with a strong resource for management control. They help public officials identify which records must be retained permanently and which records may be destroyed after a certain period of time. They help an agency ensurethat adequate documentation of its activities has been created and is being maintained, as required by statute.

Schedules become the basis for each agency's records management program, ensuring accountability for the information being produced, serving as critical assets in a state agency's strategic information resources planning (mandated under KRS 61.950), and providing agencies with a valuable resource with which to respond to information requests under Kentucky's Open Records Law (KRS 61.870-884). Without an approved records retention schedule, an agency, whether state or local, does not have the legal authority to destroy any of its records, regardless of their format, and can incur substantial costs or liabilities if such destruction does occur.

What is the function of the State Archives and Records Commission?

The State Archives and Records Commission, under the terms of KRS 171.420 and 171.670, has the authority to review and approve all records retention schedules submitted by state and local public agencies through the department. In this task, it considers the importance and potential uses of the record to the creating agency and the various information values within a particular record. It also analyzes recommendations jointly developed by agencies and the department's Public Records Division on how long particular records should be kept and determines what further disposition should be made of them. The commission is concerned with preserving information of continuing value and making timely disposition of information of temporary value. The commission also advises the department on a range of other matters relating to archives and records management.

What is the scope of the Commission's responsibility and who are its members?

In all cases, the State Archives and Records Commission has final and exclusive authority to determine the ultimate disposition of Kentucky's public records. Under the terms of KRS 171.420, its decisions are binding on all parties concerned, and those decisions can only be modified or otherwise changed by its own actions.

The commission is a seventeen member body composed of:

• the State Librarian, who serves as chair of the Commission;
• the Secretary of the Cabinet for Education, Arts and the Humanities;
• the Auditor of Public Accounts;
• the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court;
• the Director of the Legislative Research Commission;
• the Attorney General;
• the Director of the Office of Policy and Management;
• the Chief Information Officer, Governor's Office for Technology;
• one member representing the University of Kentucky;
• one member representing the Kentucky Historical Society;
• one member representing the Kentucky Library association;
• one member representing regional universities and colleges;
• one member representing local governments; and
• four citizens-at-large.

The composition of the commission's membership is designed to ensure that Kentucky citizens and government agencies are fairly represented and that records which document the administration of government and which impact every facet of the lives of our citizens are given their appropriate disposition. Not only does the commission act to ensure that records of enduring value are preserved for use by future generations, it also assures a more efficient and economical use of tax dollars by providing for the timely destruction of records that have ceased to have value. Its decisions help ensure that the intent of Kentucky's public records law, as defined in KRS 171.410 - 171.740, is met.

Where should I go for further assistance or more detailed information?

All public records management services are provided through the department's Public Records Division, which can be reached at 502-564-8300. If you work for a state government agency, a public university or community college, or an office of the judicial branch, contact the State Records Branch for assistance and information about services at ext. 237. If you work for an agency of local government, contact the Local Records Branch for assistance and information about services at ext. 255. If you have a question relating to records management requirements for electronic records, contact the Technology Analysis and Support Branch, ext. 242. If you have a question concerning research at the State Archives, or the holdings of the State Archives, contact the Archival Services Branch at ext. 249. If you have a question about state agency publications, contact the State Publications Program coordinator at ext. 248. If you would like advice on the conversion of original paper records to microfilm or other image management format, including optical imaging, or have other questions about the department's micrographics services, contact the Micrographics Branch at ext. 321. If you have a question about the physical preservation of original paper records or would like to secure these services from the department, call ext. 290. For other questions, please call ext. 252.