New State Rules Approved for Local Records Retention

New State Rules Approved for Local Records Retention

  Monday, March 16, 2015    Julie Tappendorf

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The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) recently approved changes to the administrative rules for the State Records Commission and the Local Records Commissions (Cook County and everyone else).  The changes are pretty significant, particularly with respect to records retention by local governments and agencies subject to the Local Records Commission rules. 

Government officials and employees who are responsible for records retention for their government agency or body should review the changes and determine how they will affect the local records retention policies, particularly as they relate to the digitization and management of electronic records.  

Some of the changes include:

• new definitions, including the following:
• born-digital records
• digital surrogate
• digitization process
• electronic microimaging
• administrative, fiscal, and legal values
• metadata
• transitory messages
• modification from 60 days to 30 days to submit disposal certificate to commission before destroying or disposing of records
• detailed instructions on converting records to digital format
• standards for replacing analog records with digital surrogates
• management of electronic records
• recommended data formats for long term storage of various electronic records
• guidelines for storing electronic records

You can review a copy of the new rules (changes depicted in underline/strikeout text) that apply to Cook County here.  The rules that apply to all other counties can be found here.

Post Authored by Julie Tappendorf