W. Va. Code R. § 153-42-2 - Terms

2.1 "Active Record" is a record that is currently used to fill the need for which it was originally created or acquired.

2.2. "Archival quality" means a quality of reproduction providing permanent, durable, and nondestructive storage or copying medium for records consistent with established standards specified by state and national agencies and organizations responsible for establishing the standards, such as the Association for Information and Image Management, the American National Standards Institute, the National Bureau of Standards, the National Archives and Records Administration, and others, as applicable.

2.3. "Archival record" means a non-current record of continuing and enduring administrative, fiscal, historical or legal value, useful to the citizens of the state, and necessary to the administrative functions of state agencies in the conduct of services and activities mandated by law.

2.4. In the appraisal of a public record determined "archival," the terms "administrative," "fiscal," "historical," and "legal" shall have the following meanings:

2.4.a. "Administrative value" means the records have continuing utility in the operation of the office of the Secretary of State.

2.4.b. "Fiscal value" means the records are needed to document and verify financial authorizations, obligations and transactions.

2.4.C. "Historical value" means the records contain information, regardless of age, which provides significant understanding of some aspect of the government and promotes the development of an informed and enlightened citizenry.

2.4.d. "Legal value" means the records document the actions taken in the protection and proving of legal or civil rights and obligations of individuals and agencies.

2.5. "Archives" means arepository specifically designed for the preservation, storage, access, retrieval, and display of archival records or the organization operating an archives.

2.6. "Converting Electronic Records" means transferring electronic records by export or import from one software environment to another without loss of the content or structure of the records.

2.7. "Copying Electronic Records" means transferring records from an existing storage medium to an alternate storage medium while maintaining the format specifications without any loss of the content or structure.

2.8. "Disposition" means records changing custody, location, or ceasing to exist. Records at the end of their retention period may be transferred to the State Archives or be shredded, recycled or fully destroyed by another method, depending on the disposition given for those records.

2.9. "Electronic Imaging System" is a computer-based system which stores digitally encoded records or documents, originally created in this form or a conversion of electronic data, original paper or microform records, to provide retrieval and access to imaged records on demand. Electronic Imaging Systems serve as an alternate format to paper or microform systems, which may provide for multiple and faster access to information.

2.10. "Electronic Record" means any record maintained in a database by the Secretary of State which becomes available for access electronically, and which may include those portions of the complete record as are public and are considered appropriate to be include in the viewable database, as determined by the Secretary of State.

2.11. "Essential Record" means a record containing information necessary to the operation of government in the emergency created by a disaster or containing information necessary to protect the rights and interest of persons or to establish and affirm the powers and duties of governments in the resumption of operations after a disaster.

2.12. "Inactive Record" means a record not in current use, having fulfilled its original purpose, but retained for other administrative, fiscal, legal or historical value.

2.13. "Non-record" is a convenience, courtesy, information, or display copy - a duplicate copy which is disposed of after this use.

2.14. "Preservation" means maintaining archival records in their original form by stabilizing them chemically or strengthening them physically to ensure their survival as long as possible in their original form. It also means the reformatting of written, printed, electronic or visual archival originals to extend the existence or life of the information and to provide access to secondary users.

2.14.a. Recorded information subject to preservation may be on mediums including, but not limited to, paper, film, magnetic, optical or solid state devices which can store electronic signals, tapes. Mylar, linen, silk or vellum. The general types of records may be, but are not limited to, books, papers, letters, documents, printouts, photographs, films, tapes, microfiche, microfilm, photostats, sound recordings, maps, drawings, and any representations held in electronic form.

2.15. "Public record" means recorded information or documents of a transaction or activity maintained by the office of the Secretary of State. Regardless of physical form or characteristic, the recorded information is a public record if it is produced, collected, received, retrieved, or retained in pursuance of law or in connection with the transaction of public business and is not otherwise removed from the public record, in whole or in part, by applicable state or federal law.

2.16. "Records Management" means the efficient and effective management and control of the creation, maintenance, use, storage, and disposal of records, files and forms.

2.17. "Retention Schedule" is the schedule ofinstructions for records maintained for when the document is no longer active and provides retention periods for all record series of an office and authority for final disposition. The schedule describes the contents of each record series and defines:

1) the length of time each series is to be maintained in a prescribed format, such as paper or electronic;

2) the location where the records are to be stored and;

3) the final disposition of the records.

2.17.a. "Division Schedule" means the documents created by each operational division of the Secretary of State's Office to determine the period of retention, as approved by each division manager.

2.18. "Transitory Records" means records that have little or no documentary or evidential value and that need not to be set aside for fixture use; have short term administrative, legal or fiscal value and should be disposed of once that administrative, legal or fiscal use has expired; or are only usefiil for a short period of time, perhaps to ensure that a task is completed or to help prepare a final product.

Notes

W. Va. Code R. § 153-42-2