Library: Policy

OKDHS:2-21-52. Definitions

Revised 5-1-14

      The following words or terms, when used in this Part, shall have the following meaning unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

     "Administrative value of a record" means a record's usefulness in conducting Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) current business.

     "Ancillary record" means a record that is routine in nature.  It has no evidential or informational value beyond the immediate use for which the record is created or received, and does not contain support documentation for DHS financial or business transactions.

     "Archives and Records Commission (ARC)" means a five-member board created by Oklahoma law enacted in 1947.  ARC has the sole, entire, and exclusive authority for the disposition of all public records and archives of state officers, departments, boards, commissions, agencies, and institutions.

     "Confidential record" means a record whose access is restricted by statute, court order, or legally adopted rules and regulations.

     "Correspondence" means incoming and copies of outgoing letters, email, memoranda, telecommunications, and other forms of written communications.

     "Cubic foot" means the basic unit of measurement to determine records volume.  A records center storage carton holds one cubic foot of records.  A standard file drawer holds 1.5 cubic feet.  A legal-size file drawer holds two cubic feet.

     "Disposition" means action taken regarding records no longer required for day-to-day office use.  Action includes destruction, transfer to records storage, transfer to the State Archives for permanent preservation, or scan to an electronic document management system.

     "Duplicate record" means a copy of a record that is normally maintained only for reference or convenience of access.

     "Electronic record" means a record whose informational content is in code recorded on a medium, such as magnetic tape, drum, disc, drives, mobile devices, or punched paper tape and which is accompanied by finding aids, known as software documentation.  The coded information is retrievable only with the aid of a computer or other electronic device.

     "Essential record" means a record necessary:

• (A) for the operation of DHS during an emergency created by a disaster;

• (B) to protect the rights and interests of persons; or

• (C) to establish and affirm DHS powers and duties in the resumption of operations after a disaster.

     "Evidential value of a record" means a record's value for documenting DHS authority, function, organization, policy, decisions, or the rights and legal responsibilities of an individual or institution.

     "Historical value of a record" means a record's usefulness for research by government, business, organizations, scholars, or others.

     "Inventory" means a survey of the records of DHS that includes information about record titles, purposes, uses, contents, formats, frequency of reference, volumes, dates, arrangements, and physical locations.

     "Name of record" means the official title of a record series.

     "Office of record" means the agency, office, or administrative unit legally responsible for maintaining the official copy of a record.

     "Optical imaging system" means a computer system that consists of hardware and software that records complete images by:

• (A) scanning the images with a source of light, such as a laser, converting the images to a digital electronic format; and

• (B) storing the converted images on an optical medium that allows for rapid retrieval of the stored images through indexing and reproduction of the entire original image.

     "Public record" means a record created or received by DHS in the normal course of business.

     "Record" means any document, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business the expenditure of public funds, or the administration of public property.  [67 O.S. § 203]

     "Record copy" means the original or copy of a record preserved by DHS as the official record.

     "Record description" means a written summary of the contents and purposes of a record.

     "Record series" means documents, volumes, folders, electronic files, or other units of the same record title that are arranged under a single filing system or are kept together as a unit because they relate to a particular subject or function, document a specific activity, or have a direct relationship to the creation, receipt, or use of information.

     "Record type" means the functional category of a record, such as correspondence, directive, report, payroll, requisition, purchase order, invoice, minutes of proceedings, inventory, receipt, contract, voucher, warrant, case file, budget, statement of account, application, time card, ledger, court order, map, plat, or drawing.

     "Records custodian" means the staff member appointed by an administrative head to coordinate, plan, develop, and implement the administrative unit's records management program.

     "Records disposition authorization" means a request submitted to the ARC for the one-time disposition of a particular body of records that is not subject to the continuing authority of a records disposition schedule.

     "Records disposition schedule" means a list of all records created or received and specifies the length of time and the manner in which each must be retained.

     "Records Inventory Report," Form  RMD-1, means an Oklahoma Department of Libraries form used to identify a record series consisting of documents, in any format, that are arranged in a single filing system because they relate to a particular subject or result from the same activity.

     "Records management coordinator" means the staff member appointed by the DHS Director to coordinate, plan, develop, and implement the DHS Records Management Program.

     "Retention period" means the length of time that records are to be retained.

     "State publications" means any informational materials, regardless of format, method of reproduction, or source, which originate in or are produced with the imprint, by the authority, or at the total or partial expense of an agency supported wholly or in part by state funds and which are distributed to persons outside of the creating agency or are required by law.  'State publication' incorporates those publications that may or may not be financed by state funds but are released by private entities pursuant to a contract with or subject to the supervision of any agency.  [65 O.S. § 3-113.2]

     "State record" means a record of a department, office, commission, board, authority, or other agency; however designated, of state government.  [67 O.S. § 203]

     "State records administrator" means the Oklahoma Department of Libraries staff member responsible for making surveys of records operations, recommending improvements in records management practices, and establishing standards for the preparation of the records disposition schedule.