Who We Are

KRS 171.410 defines a public record as:

"all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, disks, diskettes, recordings and other

documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics,

which are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public agency."

What is a Public Record?

So, what is a Public Record?

• This definition was created back in the 1930's-40's – very format specific

• Electronic world, the media is not the record

  • If you save a disk, but there's no disk drive to play it – you haven't saved the record

• The most important part of the definition is this: Records document a transaction, prove something happened

  • Regardless of form – Records are based on the information and its value to the agency

    • Permit (paper) now in electronic form – still a permit, still has same retention

    • Correspondence is correspondence whether it's a letter or email