IARA County/Local Records Management - Records & Non-Records

Good morning Clerks and staff,

Welcome to 2021 and with the new year dawning, I thought we could start fresh from the beginning with a little bit of Records Management 101: Records & Non-Records.

Last year in October, IARA created what I call, a "handy dandy" notebook, the County/Local Records Custodian Handbook. This handbook is chock-full of useful information on records management that a records custodian will need. It is designed to help county and local government offices in Indiana properly and legally care for the public records in their custody. So let's learn about records and non-records on pages 4 and 5 in that handbook.

A PUBLIC RECORD is any piece of recorded information that is created or received by your office and documents the activities of your office no matter what medium it's recorded on or format it's recorded in.

A NON-RECORD is any piece of recorded information you might have in your government office that does NOT document the activities of your office or is a duplicate of information that is a public record.

MEDIUM is the type of container used to store the information, such as paper, microfilm, CD, computer hard drive, audiocassette, etc. 

FORMAT is the way that information on that medium is arranged, such as text, image, Microsoft Word, database file, audio recording, etc. 

This is the condensed explanation! Look to the handbook for a more in depth and quality description of record, non-record, medium, and format plus much much more. 

AMY CHRISTIANSEN JANICKI

Records Management Liaison

Indiana Archives and Records Administration

o: 812-929-3882

e: achristiansenjanicki@iara.in.gov |

w: www.in.gov/iara

a: 402 W Washington St, Room W472, Indianapolis, IN 46204

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