Code of Maine Rules › 29 - DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE › 255 - MAINE STATE ARCHIVES › Chapter 1 - STATE AGENCY RECORDS PROGRAMS › Section 255-1-3 - DEFINITIONS

Current through 2024-29, July 17, 2024
The following definitions are established for terms used in
				  these rules:
A. "Agency" means any
				unit of State Government or local government, including any state board or
				commission, and the Legislature and its committees and subcommittees, but not
				including the judicial branch, the University of Maine System, the Maine
				Community College System and the Maine Maritime Academy. For local governments,
				this term includes a municipality, a quasi-municipal organization (such as a
				school administrative district, water or sewer district, etc.), an office of
				county government (such Register of Deeds, County Sheriff, etc.), and offices
				of District Attorney.
B. "Archives"
				means government records that have been determined by the State Archivist to
				have sufficient value to warrant their continued preservation and that are in
				the physical and legal custody of the Maine State Archives.
C. "Inspection" means the review of agency
				records, records management practices, and records management programs for the
				purpose of evaluating records management effectiveness and recommending means
				for the improvement of records management.
D. "Electronic Record" means a record whose
				content is not readable unless retrieved by means of an electronic device such
				as a computer or an audio or video player. An electronic record can be in a
				structured database or an individual file.
E. "Record" means all documentary material,
				regardless of media or characteristics, made or received and maintained by an
				agency in accordance with law or rule or in the transaction of its official
				business. This term shall not include extra copies of printed or processed
				material of which official or record copies have been retained, stocks of
				publications and processed documents intended for distribution or use, or
				records relating to personal matters that may have been kept in an office for
				convenience.
Record includes records of historic and archival value to the
				  State, regardless of the date of their generation, including all documents
				  determined to have such value to the State by statute and, when appropriate, by
				  the State Archivist.
F.
				"Records creation" means any process that produces any recorded information
				necessary to conduct the business of an agency.
G. "Records disposition" means the (1)
				removal by an agency, (in accordance with approved records schedules) of
				records no longer necessary for the conduct of business by such agency, through
				removal methods which may include disposal of temporary records by destruction;
				transfer of records to an approved storage area or records center; and the
				transfer to the archives of records determined to have sufficient value to
				warrant continued preservation. (2) Transfer of records from one State agency
				to another State agency other than the Maine State Archives.
H. "Records maintenance and use" means any
				activity involved with respect to the (1) planning and establishment of methods
				for the location of records of an agency; (2) development and implementation of
				systems and procedures to facilitate the safeguarding, retrieval, and use of
				recorded information kept at file locations; and (3) the control of selection
				and use of equipment and supplies associated with records.
I. "Records management" means the application
				of management techniques: planning, creating policy, directing, organizing,
				training, and other managerial activities undertaken with respect to records
				creation, maintenance and use, retention, transfer, preservation and records
				disposition for the purpose of improving efficiency and productivity, and to
				make information accessible and cost effective.
Records Management includes:
1. Inventory of agency records;
2. Development of records retention
				schedules;
3. Management of filing
				and information retrieval systems in any media;
4. Protection of vital records;
5. Removal/efficient storage of inactive
				records;
6. Control over the
				creation and distribution of forms, reports, and correspondence;
7. Maintenance of public information to
				facilitate access