Part Definitions

1. Law
2. Tennessee Code
3. Public Libraries, Archives and Records
4. Public Records
5. Public Records Commission
6. Part Definitions

As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. “Agency” means any department, division, board, bureau, commission, or other separate unit of government created by law or pursuant to law, including the legislative branch and the judicial branch; provided, however, that for purposes of this part only, “agency” does not include the legislative branch;
2. “Confidential public record” means any public record which has been designated confidential by statute and includes information or matters or records considered to be privileged and any aspect of which access by the general public has been generally denied;
3. “Disposition” means preservation of the original records in whole or in part, preservation by photographic or other reproduction processes, or outright destruction of the records;
4. “Essential records” means any public records essential to the resumption or continuation of operations, to the re-creation of the legal and financial status of government in the state or to the protection and fulfillment of obligations to citizens of the state;
5. “Permanent records” means those records which have permanent administrative, fiscal, historical or legal value;
6. “Public record or records” or “state record or records” means all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, microfilms, electronic data processing files and output, films, sound recordings, or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any governmental agency;
7. “Records creation” means the recording of information on paper, printed forms, punched cards, tape, disk, or any information transmitting media. “Records creation” includes preparation of forms, reports, state publications, and correspondence;
8. “Records disposition authorization” means the official document utilized by an agency head to request authority for the disposition of records. The public records commission shall determine and order the proper disposition of state records through the approval of records disposition authorizations;
9. “Records management” means the application of management techniques to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of records in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency of recordkeeping. “Records management” includes records retention schedule development, essential records protection, files management and information retrieval systems, microfilm information systems, correspondence and word processing management, records center, forms management, analysis, and design, and reports and publications management;
10. “Records of archival value” means any public record which may promote or contribute toward the preservation and understanding of historical, cultural, or natural resources of the state of Tennessee;
11. “Records officer” means an individual designated by an agency head to assume responsibility for implementation of the agency's records management program;
12. “Section” and “division” means the division of records management of the department of state;
13. “Temporary records” means material which can be disposed of in a short period of time as being without value in documenting the functions of an agency. Temporary records will be scheduled for disposal by requesting approval from the public records commission utilizing a records disposition authorization; and
14. “Working papers” means those records created to serve as input for final reporting documents, including electronic data processed records, and/or computer output microfilm, and those records which become obsolete immediately after agency use or publication.

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