ISSUES IN

PUBLIC RECORD KEEPING

NH City and Town Clerks Assoc

North Conway, NH

October 26, 2018

Outline

• 1. Records management – Reasons to manage records; life cycle; retention sched

– Municipal Records Board

– Other rules (Motor Vehicles, Vital Records, federal)

• 2. Preservation guidance – General threats to physical records

– General steps to mitigate the threats

• 3. Digital records – Issues in Preservation of Public Records

– PDF as preservation format

Records Management • Organization of Records

– Easier finding – Efficient use of space

• Maintain an Inventory (a record of what records exist and where they are; accountability)

• Disposition Policies – Destroy, give away, save forever, convert to some other format

or medium – Retention schedule

• How long to keep in Active use area • When to shift to less active use storage • When to convert to another medium or format • When to update formats • When to destroy or “archive”

Life Cycle of a Record

History of Public Records Rules

• 1600s – Thou shalt not destroy government records

• 1967: Legislature inserted 43 exceptions in the RSA’s + microfilm

• 1981: taken out of RSA and put into Administrative Rules; 46 exceptions (allowed microfilm)

• 2005: 153 exceptions back into RSA 33-A (allowed

microfilm + short term digital)

• 2016: PDF/A may be used

RSA 33-A: Municipal Records

• Local MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE

– RSA 33-A:3. The municipal officers or their designee together with the clerk, treasurer, an assessor, and tax collector of each city or town shall constitute a committee to govern the disposition of municipal records pursuant to this chapter. Unless otherwise provided by a municipal ordinance, the committee shall designate the office responsible for the retention of each type of record created for the municipality.

RSA 33-A: Municipal Records

• State MRB rules:

– RSA CHAPTER 33-A:3-a DISPOSITION OF MUNICIPAL RECORDS • (156 record groups)

Some examples of the N.H. MRB rules in

RSA 33-A: 3-a

(as of October 2018)

XXXV. Easements awarded to municipality: permanently. XXXVI. Elections-federal elections: ballots and absentee ballot applications, affidavit envelopes, and lists: by the town clerk until the contest is settled and all appeals have expired or at least 22 months after the election, whichever is longer. XXXVII. Elections-not federal: ballots and absentee ballot applications, affidavit envelopes, and lists: by the town clerk until the contest is settled and all appeals have expired or at least 60 days after the election, whichever is longer. XXXVIII. Elections-challenge affidavits by the town clerk: until the contest is settled and all appeals have expired or 22 months after the election, whichever is longer. XXXIX. Elections-ward maps: until revised plus 1 year. XL. Emergency medical services run reports: 10 years. XLI. Equipment maintenance: life of equipment. XLII. Excavation tax warrant and book or list: permanently. XLIII. Federal form 1099s and W-2s: 7 years. XLIV. Federal form 941: 7 years. XLV. Federal form W-1: 4 years. XLVI. Fire calls/incident reports: 10 years. XLVII. Grants, supporting documentation: follow grantor's requirements. XLVIII. Grievances: expiration of appeal period.

RSA 41:59 Preservation of Public

Records, Books and Documents of

Towns 41:59 Care and Preservation. – The selectmen shall cause all books of public record belonging to the town to be well and strongly bound, and all papers and documents to be filed and arranged in an orderly manner convenient for reference and examination, and shall provide suitable fireproof safes or other means for their care and preservation, all at the expense of the town. Source. 1885, 74:1. PS 43:43. PL 47:47. RL 59:54

RSA 41:68 Preservation of Public

Records, Books and Documents of

Towns

41:68 Unauthorized Destruction; Penalty. – All municipal records as defined in RSA 33-A:1, IV belong to the public in perpetuity and shall not be destroyed, maliciously damaged or retained by any person not entitled to keep them. Municipal records shall be destroyed only with the approval of the municipal records board established under RSA 33-A:4-a. Any natural person who violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and any other person shall be guilty of a felony. Source. 1977, 358:6, eff. July 1, 1977.

Other rules for managing records • Other New Hampshire rules

– Perhaps other RSA chapters – Motor Vehicles – Dept of Education (school records) – Vital Records – Voter Checklists

• Other Rules

– Federal rules – Other states may have rules for similar record groups – Professional organizations – Granting organization

• Local Municipal Committee is to determine which records follow

which schedule

Signs, Signs, Everywhere there are

signs: Do this, Don’t do that …

Preserving Paper Records (also granite cave walls, clay tablets, papyrus, vellum [animal hide])

• DANGERS (practices to mitigate danger)

– Fire (suppression system)

– Temperature (keep constant; comfortable)

– Light (turn lights off when not needed; filter, especially infrared & ultraviolet; monitor exposure)

– Water (avoid overhead pipes; keep all records at least 6” above floor; air circulation)

– Relative Humidity (keep constant; about 40%)

– Adhesives/tape (DON’T)

– Alteration or theft

Other Common Sense • NO food, drink, umbrellas, backpacks, etc around

the documents

• Wash your hands before using docs (or gloves)

• Use pencil when working with documents

• Don’t write on top of documents

• Don’t use sticky-notes; they leave adhesive

• Large documents need extra hands to handle

• Don’t pull on the spine of a book

• Be careful about documents left out in direct sunlight

Security of the records

• Use surrogates when possible

• Fragile or damaged documents might be enclosed in polyester film (Mylar-D, Melinex)

• Do not leave the public alone with the originals

• Store documents in acid free file folders

• Number how many documents are contained in the folder – when returned by constituent, count the documents

• Of course, locked doors, fire suppression, security alarms and cameras, etc.

Digital Records

• All digital records are a series of 1s and 0s

• The operating systems, programs and file types are rules to arrange the 1s and 0s and then to interpret the pattern of 1s and 0s back to make sense to humans

A bit

A Byte

A different byte 256 different possible combinations

32-bit 4.3 billion possible combinations

ASCII Code

A CODE FOR MANY TYPES OF SYMBOLS

• UPPER CASE LETTERS • lower case letters • ITALIC UPPER CASE • BOLD UPPER CASE • Letters with accents • Start of header • Start of text • End of text • File seperator

• Quote • Double quote • Exclamation point • Left (right) parenthesis • @, %, $, & • Numbers • Indent • Carriage return • Add, subtract, multiply • Colors

Digital Records

• Ever wonder how many operating systems there are? Microsoft Windows, OS, Unix, Linux

• Ever wonder how many versions of these operating systems there are or have been?

• Ever wonder how many different programs or apps run on these different operating systems?

• And how many versions of those programs exist? Each version is a different set of rules of

interpreting those clusters of bits

RSA 33-A: 5-a

• CHAPTER 33-A DISPOSITION OF MUNICIPAL RECORDS • 33-A:5-a Electronic Records. –

I. Paper municipal records listed in the disposition and retention schedule of RSA 33-A:3-a may be transferred to electronic records, as defined in RSA 5:29, VI, and the original paper records may be disposed of as the municipality chooses, subject to the requirements of other state or federal laws. Such records shall be stored in portable document format/archival (PDF/A) or another file format approved by the secretary of state and the municipal records board. II. Electronic municipal records listed on the disposition and retention schedule of RSA 33-A:3-a that are to be retained for 10 years or less may be retained solely electronically in their original format if so approved by the municipal committee responsible for the records. The municipality is responsible for assuring the accessibility of the records for the retention period. If the records retention period exceeds 10 years or the municipal committee does not approve retention of the record solely electronically in an approved format, the records shall be transferred to paper, microfilmed, or stored in portable document format/archival (PDF/A) or another approved file format on a medium from which it is readily retrievable. At least once every 5 years from date of creation, the municipal committee shall review documents and procedures for compliance with guidelines issued by the secretary of state and the municipal records board. Source. 2005, 187:5, eff. Aug. 29, 2005. 2006, 275:6, eff. June 15, 2006. 2016, 226:1, eff. Aug. 8, 2016. 2017, 96:1, eff. Aug. 7, 2017.

PDF/A

• PDF/A is one version (1.4) of the Adobe PDF software introduced in 2005 (now up to version 12)

– An OLDER version that Adobe didn’t want anymore and donated to the International Standards Organization (ISO) – ISO has modified the PDF program to three types: text, music, video

– Converting a PDF to PDF/A is going backwards in technology (from a newer, more complicated set of rules to an older, simpler set of rules)

– What is lost in the backwards conversion?

– How is that loss recognized (quality control)?

– How does this effect AUTHENTICITY of the record?

How do we manage, preserve and

access digital records?

• Organize (storage space, finding & opening)

• Maintain an Inventory (accounting, finding)

• Disposition Policies (ultimate intent)

– Retention Schedules (potential timing of when processes are

done)

Organizing

digital records

Folder tree

Organizing digital records

Index to files and locators (registry)

& “search” function

Inventory

• Record of what records you have

– File types

– Versions

– How many records of that type and version

– Creators

– Security level

– What hardware environment

Disposition

• What is the eventual fate of the records?

– Destroy after a certain number of years/months/days?

– Keep forever?

– Shred?

– Microfilm and shred?

– Offer to Historical Society?

Retention Scheduling

• A pre-determined schedule for when certain steps are to take place:

– Move to less active storage

– Scan to image

– Convert image file to updated file format

– Shred

– Donate to (Archives, Historical Society, etc).

How will the digital file be

accessible 10 years from now? 100 years?

CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY

• Museum

• Emulation

• Migration

• Other

Museum

Keeping and maintaining all hardware and software environments in order to open the original digital document

Emulation

• Writing software that makes the old software to run on new hardware

– Translation of new operating systems into old language so the old software will translate the old zeros and ones

Migration

• As technology changes, convert old digital records to newer technology

Archivo General de Indias, Seville

General Archive of the Indies, Seville

• (a) Late 1980s: digitize for local network so researchers did not need to use original records – grants from computer companies & expertise (let’s call this the “A” scans)

• (b) Early 1990s, technology changed – Grants for updated technology

– Old staff trained for new technology (“B” Scans)

– Hired staff to convert older scans to newer technology (A->B)

• (c) Late 1990s, technology changed again (“C” Scans) – Twice as much B tech as in early 1990s (½ in B, 1/2 from A -> B;

needing to be converted to C technology, while continuing to scan in C technology • A -> B -> C = “migration”

• Quality control?

Migration or Conversion

• Update the file every time technology changes (expense, time, knowledge of technology)

• Ever wonder what happens when you try to open one program in another?

• Who does the check to make certain the files converted correctly? Do you edit the converted files , and if you do, can you be certain it is exactly like the older version

WordPerfect

opened in

Microsoft

Notepad

ÿWPC4 ûÿ 2 ÿÿ B P ÿÿZ ¦ ÿÿ Courier 10cpi #| x #_ôx þ6X @É “8Q X@ÿÿÿþþþþÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿþÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿþÿÿHP LaserJet 500+ HPLAS500.PRS Ûx - Œ @É ‡Ï ,8ð È0¡-)eX@#| x ûÿ 2 B V P Z ¦ Courier 10cpi ÿÿ‰ ? x x x , < ôx þ6X @É “8Q X@ÿÿÿþþþþÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿþÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿþÿÿHP LaserJet 500+ HPLAS500.PRS Ûx - Œ @É ‡Ï ,8ð È0¡-)e @ûÿ 2 2 Ó ÓÐ È È ÐÐ È È Ðà ÃNovember 1997Á ¸ ¸ ÁÁ - ÁÁ hh# ÁÁ ÀÀ( ÁÁ - ÁÁpp2 ÁNH Records and Archives

Dynamic records and authenticity

• Some records are updated, revised, corrected

– How does that effect the authenticity of the document as a “record”?

• Databases

• Spreadsheets (formulas)

– How does one certify that it is a true copy of the record?

• Some records may be hacked

Storage media

• Paper • IBM punch cards

• Magnetic • Hard drives; servers

• Floppy disks

• USB thumb drives

• Laser – Metallic CD/DVD (purchased music and movies)

– Chemical (Writeable) CD/DVD

• The Cloud ??

Metadata

• Standards

– Dublin Core

– Many others depending on data

• Reasons

– Indexing

– Context of the document

– HOW IS THE METADATA ACQUIRED?

Strengths of Digital Records

• Easily corrected or improved/updated

• Convenience of access

• Some search functions are quicker

• Making multiple copies is faster (allowing “backup”)

Weaknesses of Digital Records

• Easily corrected or improved/updated

• Dependence on power supply

• Dependence on hardware and software to accurately interpret the ones and zeros

• Rate of changes in technology (rapid obsolesence)

• Maintenance and cost of digital infrastructure including specialized knowledge

• Security risks

• Instability of media (magnetic, chemical)

What’s needed to preserve digital records

• Good metadata – indexing, retention schedule • Method to organize files (strategy, software?) • Confirm you are creating true PDA/A files • Standardized naming convention • Authentification strategy • Security controls – off-line storage? firewalls, viruses, corruption of

files • Informed methods of actually destroying digital records that are no

longer needed • Updating infrastructure • Staff training in IT • Awareness of IT changes • Storage media (cloud??) • Means of delivering document for public to see

– (what about the public that don’t have a computer?)

ULTIMATELY

• We need to preserve the records needed to do government business

• Preserve the records with legal, fiscal, or historical significance

• Provide appropriate access to records

• Protect “public trust” in public records by having a trustworthy procedure of storing, organizing, retrieving, and disposing digital files

Regardless of the medium

Current developing preservation

strategy at the NH State Archives

MIGHT BE

• State Government has “gone digital”

• Capture digital documents before printed to paper

• Apply management principles to the digital files

• Build a OAIS digital Repository

• Write critical digital files to microfilm (for authenticity– public trust)

• Be able to scan microfilm back to an image file

OR

Write all digital files to CD

Pop Quiz

• Following which votes does the town send voter checklists to the Secretary of State/State Archives?

(a) Presidential Primary (once every 4 years) (b) March Town Meeting (c) September State Primary (every other year) (d) November General Election (every other year)

Tout finis Thank you for your attention and patience

And Good Luck!

Brian Nelson Burford NH State Archives 9 Ratification Way

(formerly 71 South Fruit Street)

Concord, NH

Brian.Burford@SOS.NH.GOV