Are email messages considered public records?

At UNC, yes, with exception of personal email. Personal email is not a public record and should be deleted as soon as possible from the user’s email system.

What are public records?

At UNC, all paper and electronic documents (including reports, letters and email) created, processed, or maintained on state time at state expense, are considered public records.

What should I know about the NC Public Records Law?

University employees need to know that there is a state law, http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/archives/rec/publrecd.htm, governing their actions with regard to public records, and they should be familiar with its basic concepts. They should also be aware that they are not permitted to destroy any public record not listed in their department's approved records retention schedule. (For help in determining appropriate retention periods or in locating your office's approved records retention and disposition schedule, contact the Records Service Coordinator at 962-6402)

What are records series and how do they relate to email?

A records series is a group of identical or related records that are normally used and filed as a unit, and that permit evaluation as a unit for retention scheduling purposes. A retention schedule is a comprehensive list of records series titles, indicating for each series the length of time it is to be maintained. Email is not a records series, but rather a means of transmission of information, so its retention and disposition depends on the function and content of the individual message.

How do I know when an email is a record?

Electronic mail created and received by University employees during the course of business are University records, and should have the same retention as similar paper based records with a few exceptions. Unwanted or unneeded junk mail (spam) and personal messages are not University records and should be routinely identified, separated, and removed from the email system. Such email may be considered a “nonrecord”.

What do I do with emails that are considered records?

Messages with short term value (only needed for a limited time or purpose) should be deleted and purged once their purpose has concluded. Such messages include:

• those distributed to a number of staff for information only, such as news bulletins, circulars, meeting notices, copies of extracts of documents;
  drafts
• those created solely as part of preparation for other records;
  personal messages and announcements not work related;
  junk mail.

Messages with continuing value, such as those that document administrative decision-making, committee, faculty, and campus activities, should be retained in paper or electronic copy until no longer administratively useful, and then transferred to the University Archives. Electronic copies can be deleted if paper copies are maintained. Examples of messages that may have continuing value are those which :

• approve or authorize actions or expenditures;
• are formal communications between staff, such as correspondence or memoranda relating to official business;
• signify a policy change or development;
• create a precedent, such as messages issuing instructions or advice;
• relate to the substantive business of the work unit or University;
• involve negotiations on behalf of the University;
• have value for other people or the work unit as a whole.

Faculty correspondence, research data, and external scholarly communications which are not of an administrative nature may still have significant archival value. Electronic copies may be deleted if paper copies are maintained.

Messages whose loss would pose a significant fiscal, legal, or administrative risk to the university if they could not be accessed or read should not be deleted unless retained in an acceptable paper format.

How can email be considered an authentic record?

Response Coming Soon...

Are email records handled differently than paper?

Email should be managed by its content, not its format. Whether or not you keep an email message depends on its value, subject, and function.

If email records are retained in electronic format, they should be managed much the same as paper records. See "Managing Email" FAQs for further guidance on this topic.