Section 4400.20  Definitions

Act − The State Records Act [5 ILCS 160].

Administrative Value – Those aspects of records containing facts concerning an agency's administrative decisions that an agency needs for its immediate day-to-day function. This value almost always diminishes and is lost over time.

Commission or SRC − The State Records Commission created by Section 16 of the State Records Act to determine what State agency records no longer have any administrative, fiscal, legal, research or historical value and should no longer be retained.

Digital Surrogate – A reproduction of the original record when the record has been scanned, photographed, encoded, or otherwise converted to a digital photocopy that, when printed, viewed or played, retains the look, sound or feel of the original record.

Digitization Process – The methods, tools and procedures by which a digital surrogate is created for an original record. Examples include scanning and encoding of audio/video signals into digital data.

Electronic Microimaging − Any process in which source documents are scanned into a digital format and then converted to permanent record microfilm.

Electronic Record − A record generated, communicated, received or stored by electronic means Electronic records are contained in various storage media.

Electronic Storage Media − Storage devices in computers (hard drives) and any removable/transportable digital storage medium, such as magnetic tape or disk, optical disk, or digital storage device.

Field Representative − A representative in the State Records Unit of the Office of the Secretary of State.

Fiscal Value – Those aspects of records containing monetary information that accounts for the receipt or expenditure of funds.

Illinois State Archives – Department of the Archives and Records, Office of the Secretary of State, established pursuant to the State Records Act [5 ILCS 160].

Legal Value – Records that contain evidence of legally enforceable rights or obligations of the State, such as legal decisions and opinions; fiscal documents representing agreements, such as leases, titles and contracts; and records of actions in particular cases, such as claim papers and legal dockets.

Nonrecord Material −

Material not filed as evidence of administrative activity or for its informational content.

Extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference.

Stocks of printed or reproduced documents kept for supply purposes, where file copies have been retained for record purposes.

Books, periodicals, newspapers, posters, and other library and museum materials made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes.

Private materials neither made nor received by a State agency pursuant to State law or in connection with the transaction of public business.

Perforated, magnetized and photographically coded cards and tapes, provided that documents containing the same information have been filed in the same office and such cards and tapes were not prepared as evidence of administrative decisions or transactions subject to audit.

Whenever doubt arises whether certain papers are nonrecord materials, it should be presumed that they are records. Nonrecord materials may be destroyed at any time by the agency in possession of the materials without the prior approval of the State Records Commission.

Open Format – A published specification for storing digital data, usually maintained by a non-proprietary standards organization and free of legal restrictions on use.  A non-exclusive list of open formats includes txt, rtf, tiff, jpeg and PDF-A.

Permanent – To be retained forever.

Permanent Record Film − A photographic camera original, or an exact copy of an original film, so composed and treated that the image and support will have maximum keeping quality under archival room storage conditions of 65-70° F and 30-40% humidity.

Raw Stock − Sensitized photographic material that has not undergone the process of development.

Records − All books, papers, digitized electronic material, maps, photographs, databases, or other official documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made, produced, executed, or received by any agency in the State in pursuance of State law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the State or of the State Government, or because of the informational data contained therein.  [5 ILCS 160/2]

Records Retention Schedule – The document stating the official retention, maintenance and disposition requirements for a record series, or type of record, based on administrative, fiscal, legal or archival values for the scheduled records. The schedule is of no force unless approved by the State Records Commission (see Section 17 of the State Records Act).

Records Series – A group of identical or related documents (either as to form or content) that is arranged under a single filing system or kept together as a unit because they consist of the same form, relate to the same subject, result from the same activity, or have certain common physical characteristics (i.e., maps, blueprints, etc.). A series may contain both forms and correspondence.

Research, Historical or Archival Value – Records that document a specific State program, a unique program, a departure from previous State policy, formation of public policy, the activities of an important government official, or a trend or movement by the citizenry.

Secretary – The Illinois Secretary of State.

(Source:  Amended at 31 Ill. Reg. 8572, effective June 4, 2007)