17.1 CHARGES FOR REQUESTED RECORDS--STATUTORY BASIS AND GUIDELINES.
Iowa Code Chapter 22 establishes the right to examine public records and delineates the conditions under which records (not subject to specified exceptions) must be made available to the requesting party by the custodian of the records. Section 22.3 authorizes the custodian to adopt and enforce reasonable rules for examination and copying of the custodian's records in response to requests made under this chapter. The custodian is permitted to charge the requesting party for the actual costs incurred in making records available for review (including the costs of supervision of the records while they are being reviewed by the requesting party) as well as for the copying service.

a. Preparing records for copying. In instances in which records must be compiled from various sources, confidential information must be redacted, or any other tasks must be performed prior to copying or review of records by the requesting party, an hourly rate reflective of the staff member's actual compensation multiplied by the actual time involved in such preparation may be assessed to the requesting party. In instances in which considerable labor costs are likely to be associated with preparing the request, the requesting party should be given advance notice of this possibility, together with an estimate of the potential costs involved, based on costs involved in prior similar requests, when possible.

b. Supervision of records during examination by requesting party. In instances in which supervision of records is required because the records must be reviewed by the requesting party prior to or in lieu of copying, or for any other reason, an hourly rate reflective of the staff member's actual compensation multiplied by the actual time spent in such review may be assessed to the requesting party. Prior notice of this charge should be provided to the requesting party.

c. Charges for copying service. Charges for copies of records made by the custodian for the requesting party shall be assessed at a per-copy rate of $ .10, which reflects the actual cost of making the copy.

d. Notice. Requesting parties should be given advance notice that they will be charged for the costs involved in preparing and copying requested records, together with an estimate of potential costs, if possible.

e. Exceptions. This policy does not apply to medical records requested from The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics nor to student records (including transcripts). Questions regarding the application of this policy in all other contexts shall be referred to the Director of University Relations, who may also determine that fulfilling a given request is consistent with the mission of the University and accordingly not subject to this policy, and whether access to records is authorized under Chapter 22.

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17.2 RESPONSE TO REQUEST REQUIRED WITHIN REASONABLE PERIOD OF TIME.
Iowa Code Section 22.8(4)(d) establishes a good faith standard under which requested records should ordinarily be provided within ten business days, but within no longer than twenty calendar days. Factors such as assessing whether confidentiality exceptions to records release apply, form a basis for reasonable delay in providing requested records. Questions regarding this standard may be referred to the Director of University Relations.

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17.3 RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
(3/00)
The University of Iowa is charged with developing rules and regulations for the economical, efficient, and systematic management of its records. Accordingly, the University has established the following Records Management Program (RMP) to maintain, protect, and retain or dispose of UI records in accordance with legal requirements, the Board of Regents and UI policy, historical and reference needs. The scope of this program includes: 1) definitions of UI documents and records; 2) preparation and approval of UI records retention schedules; 3) general guidelines for housing UI records; and 4) procedures and practices in UI departments to carry out these functions.

a. Definitions.
(1) "Active record" means records used in an office more than once a year.

(2) "Archive" means:

(a) the location for preserving records.

(b) the UI department responsible for appraising, scheduling, acquiring, preserving, and providing reference service for archival materials.

(c) the inactive records created or received and accumulated by the University in the course of routine business and permanently retained due to their continuing or enduring value.

(3) "Confidential record" means:
(a) records unavailable to the general public unless otherwise ordered by a court, by the lawful custodian of the records, or by another person duly authorized to release such information. (See IC 22.7.)

(b) records deemed confidential under this policy ordinarily remain confidential throughout their life. This status shall be identified in the official retention schedule.

(c) electronic communications are not completely private and are subject to the conditions delineated in II-19 Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources.

(4) "Convenience record" means extra copies of records created for convenient access and reference. A convenience record is not the official copy. Computer back-up tapes and other duplicate computer files are considered convenience records.

(5) "Department" means the organizational areas and departments defined through the University organizational chart.

(6) "Electronic records" means word processing, spreadsheets, databases, e-mail, and any other type normally found on computers.

E-mail and voice-mail are governed by the subject matter contained within and should be retained according to the department's record retention schedule.

(7) "Inactive record" means a record used in an office less than once a year or no longer required in the conduct of current business.

(8) "Non-record" means:

(a) miscellaneous papers or correspondence without official significance and extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference, such as post-it notes, letters of transmittal, route slips, etc.

(b) versions of reports, memos, word processing files, letters, superseded printed drafts, messages, communication (electronic or otherwise), etc., that are used to develop a final official document.

(When there is any doubt as to whether or not any item is a non-record, it will be considered to be a UI record.)

(9) "Official record" means:

(a) a record having the legally recognized and judicially enforceable quality of establishing some fact, policy, or institutional position or decision.

(b) the single official copy of a document maintained on file by an administrative unit of the University which is usually, but not always, the original.

(10) "Physical medium" means the physical form or characteristics of records in a record series. Examples are paper, electronic (computer), magnetic tape, microfilm, microfiche, photographs, slides, negatives, sound recordings, and engineering drawings.

(11) "Public record" means all records, documents, tape, or other information, stored or preserved in any medium, of or belonging to the State of Iowa.

Ordinarily, all UI records are considered public records. However, not all public records are subject to release. (See IC 22.7; see also 34 CFR 99 et seq. and the definition of confidential records within this policy.)

(12) "Records custodian" (hereinafter "custodian") means:

(a) the administrative unit assigned the official responsibility for retention and disposition of the record; generally, the custodian is the unit or office which originally creates or receives the record.

(b) the administrative unit responsible for providing duplicate copies of its official records if requested. The requests should be within reason and not overburden the custodian. (See V-17.1 for price of copies to non-UI units.)

(c) other UI offices or agencies may have copies of a particular record, where only one office is listed as the custodian in the retention schedule. Those copies held by other offices or agencies are considered to be reference (or convenience) copies, and no retention per se is required.

(13) "Records Management Program" means a program designed to:
(a) assure that valuable institutional records will be preserved.

(b) provide economy and efficiency in the creation, organization, maintenance, use, and disposition of records.

(c) assure that needless records will not be created or retained.

(14) "UI record" means any documents, books, papers, photographs, sound recordings, or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made, produced, or executed in the conduct of University business, including sponsored research, teaching, service, and administration. Databases and other data compilations that are used for multiple purposes are UI records.

(15) "Vital operating record" means:

(a) those records essential to the conduct of University business.

(b) those records that are necessary to document the administrative unit's legal and financial position.

(c) those records essential to continue or reconstruct the operations of a UI unit after a natural or man-made disaster such as flood, fire, tornado, explosion, or riot.

(d) those records that are necessary to preserve the rights of an individual, an administrative unit, its employees, and the general public.

b. This policy shall implement the requirements of state law and Board policy pertaining to records. (See IC 17A, 22, and 304; see also RPM 7.07.)

c. Official records of this state are the property of the state and shall not be mutilated, destroyed, removed, or disposed of, except as provided by law, rule, or policy.

d. The UI Secretary (hereinafter Secretary), appointed annually by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, according to the Iowa Code, Section 262.9, or designee, in consultation with other UI Administrators as appropriate, shall have the authority and duty to implement, administer, and update this policy as necessary.

e. The Secretary or designee shall review, as needed, all record storage systems and computer installations and recommend any changes necessary to accomplish more efficient use of UI resources, including but not limited to, the type of equipment, methods, and procedures for filing and retrieval of records and the location of equipment.

f. The Secretary or designee may make or cause to be made preservation duplicates of records such as microfilming paper records. A preservation duplicate record shall be durable, accurate, complete, and clear and shall be made by means designated by the Secretary or designee.

A preservation duplicate record shall have the same force and effect for all purposes as the original record whether or not the original record is in existence. A transcript, exemplification, or certified copy of a preservation duplicate record shall be deemed for all purposes to be a transcript, exemplification, or certified copy of the original record.

g. The UI archivist will have the opportunity to examine and review all UI records selected for disposal to determine whether the records proposed for disposal have research or historical value to the UI. The UI Archivist shall maintain those research and historical records in a manner consistent with this policy.

h. Records from a terminated department will be reviewed by the Secretary or designee in consultation with appropriate collegiate and departmental officials to determine which records shall be retained or disposed of according to the UI's needs.

i. UI records in the possession of a UI faculty/staff member or student whose employment or student relationship with the University ceases for whatever reason are presumptively the property of the University and shall remain with that person's department.

j. For non-UI materials sent to UI departments, the department to whom material is sent is responsible for deciding if the document should be retained (i.e., if it has official significance). If retained, the document becomes a record subject to this policy and the receiving department is responsible for managing the document's retention and destruction.

k. Electronic records must be maintained in a readily retrievable form for the entire time they are retained regardless of status to prevent system migration problems. For example, if a new computer system (hardware, software, etc.) is implemented that uses records from an older computer system, the records must be converted to the new computer system's format or maintained in some other format that can still be readily retrieved.

l. Each UI college and VP unit shall:

(1) identify records that fall within this policy;

(2) develop a records retention schedule that is consistent with this policy;

(3) establish a system to administer the design, handling, maintenance, filing, storage, and security of its records;

(4) establish a system to preserve and protect its vital operating records (such as providing for security storage or relocation) in the event of an emergency arising from a natural disaster.

(5) retain the retention schedule(s) as an official file document.

m. Retention schedules:
(1) Retention schedules require the following information:
(a) description of the record;
(b) who is the custodian for each record listed;
(c) all known federal and state retention requirements;
(d) how long the record should be retained in an active status;
(e) how long the record should be retained in an inactive status;
(f) whether the record is the official UI copy;
(g) whether the record should be considered confidential;
(h) whether the record should be considered vital;
(i) what formats the record is in;
(j) any safeguards currently in place.

(2) Retention schedules shall be reviewed and approved initially by the Secretary or designee.

n. Destruction of records:
(1) Convenience records and non-records may be destroyed at the discretion of the user.

(2) Official records should not be destroyed except in accordance with the approved records retention policy.

(3) Official and confidential records (original and all copies) that are to be destroyed according to their approved retention schedules must be shredded or otherwise disposed of so as not to be retrievable.

o. For further guidance to departments in managing their records and general operational and functional assistance, see the Finance and Operations Guidebook on Records Management located at http://www.uiowa.edu/~fusrmp/.

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