ELECTRONIC RECORDS & SCANNING FAQ

A. Yes, G.S. 132-1 points out that any record generated in the conduct of the university's business is a public record, "regardless of physical form or characteristics."

A. The best practice is to destroy all records that have met their retention requirements at the same time, regardless of format. Records in paper and electronic formats that have met their retention period but continue to be kept are still subject to public inspection and litigation/legal holds.

A. No, however:

1. Permanent records must have a preservation copy as defined by G.S. 132:

   Preservation duplicates shall be durable, accurate, complete and clear, and such duplicates made by a photographic, photo static, microfilm, micro card, miniature photographic, or other process which accurately reproduces and forms a durable medium for so reproducing the original shall have the same force and effect for all purposes as the original record whether the original record is in existence or not. ... Such preservation duplicates shall be preserved in the place and manner of safekeeping prescribed by the Department of Cultural Resources.

The preservation duplicate of permanent records must be either on paper or microfilm.

2. Non-permanent records may be retained in any format. You will have to take precautions with records that you must keep more than 10 years. Computer systems do not have long life cycles. Each time you change computer systems, you will have to convert all records to the new system so that you can assure their preservation and provide access.

You may want to attend our workshop on Digital Imaging Systems to learn about the best practices for scanning and retaining scanned documents. It is also important to remember that scanned records also need to be deleted once they have met their retention period.

A. Microfilm is a legally acceptable replacement for original records, as outlined in G.S. 8-45 and 153A-436. The Department of Cultural Resources has a publication, Micrographics: Technical and Legal Procedures. It explains the four groups of national standards for the production of archival quality microfilm:

• manufacture of raw film
• filming methods
• processing (developing) film
• storage methods

Microfilm has a proven long lifespan (100+ years) and can be read with nothing more sophisticated than a magnifying glass and light source. There is no software to keep current. Usually, deterioration in the film itself can be detected by visual inspection.

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