Back in 1992 I went on a road trip to Lubbock, Texas, and while there I and my music loving friends wanted to visit the grave of Buddy Holly. This was back before everyone had access to an internet that contained a plethora of relevant information on the living and the dead. So we showed…
The North Carolina General Assembly wrapped up its 2015 long session on September 30th. A number of laws enacted during these months will have an impact on the creation of or access to public records: S.L. 2015-7 (SB 14) clarifies that the Academic Standards Review Commission — established by S.L. 2014-78 and under the purview of…
Today is Electronic Records Day, a day where we raise awareness about the role electronic records play in public business and what the State Archives is doing to help public employees manage and preserve important electronic records. See past Electronic Records Day posts here and here. Many public employees use their personal mobile devices to…
Frayda Bluestein of the UNC School of Government published a useful blog post on comments, e-mails, and messages received from citizens and whether or not they may be confidential. Like many questions about confidentiality and public records, the short answer is “it depends.” But Frayda does a great job here of sorting that out.
Governor McCrory has declared the week of March 16-22 as Sunshine Week, an entire week dedicated to openness and transparency in government. As government officials and employees, we do not own the records in our offices. The people are the owners, and we are the custodians. This means that the people have the right to…
Recently the North Carolina Court of Appeals (NCCOA) filed a decision in the matter of Lexis Nexis Risk Data Management Inc. v. North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts ruling that an entire database maintained by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is a public record as defined in G.S. 132. For a very brief background…
From Whence G.S. 132? Part 1 Since you, dear reader, have found your way here to our dusty cardboard, pulp, and email filled corner of the internet you are probably familiar with the nature of NC G.S. 132. If you are a records custodian, either at the state or local level you are no doubt,…
