§ 44:402 — Definitions

§402. Definitions
For the purpose of this Chapter:
(1) "Secretary" means secretary of state.
(2) "State archivist" means the state archivist and director of the
division of archives, records management, and history, appointed by the
secretary to serve as director of that division and as state archivist.
(3) "Division" means the division of archives, records management,
and history.
(4) "Records" means all documents, papers, letters, books, drawings,
maps, plats, photographs, magnetic or optical media, microfilm,
microphotograph, motion picture film, or other document or any other
material, regardless of physical form or characteristic, generated or received
under law or in connection with the transaction of official business, or
preserved by an agency or political subdivision because of other informational
or legal value. This term shall not be construed to include library and museum
material developed or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition
purposes, extra copies maintained for convenience in reference or stocks of
standard publications, or processed documents.
(5) "Agency" means any state, parish and municipal office, department,
division, board, bureau, commission, authority, or other separate unit of state,
parish, or municipal government created or established by the constitution,
law, resolution, proclamation, or ordinance.
(6) "State archives" means an establishment maintained by the division
to administer a program to provide for the preservation of those records and
other papers that have been determined by the state archivist to have sufficient
historical, fiscal, or legal value to warrant their continued preservation by the
state, whether they have been deposited with the state archives or are to be
maintained in agency custody.
(7) "Records management" means the systematic application of
management techniques to the creation, utilization, maintenance, retention,
preservation, and disposal of records for the purpose of reducing costs and
improving efficiency of records keeping. "Records management" includes
management of filing and microfilming equipment and supplies; filing and
information retrieval systems; files, correspondence, reports, and forms
management; historical documentation; micrographics; retention
programming; and vital records protection.
(8) "Records center" means an establishment maintained by the
division primarily for the economical storage, processing, servicing, and
security of inactive public records that must be retained for varying periods of
time but which need not be held in agency offices for the entire periods.
(9) "Retention and disposal schedule" means a set of disposition
instructions prescribing how long, in what location, under what conditions, and
in what form records series shall be kept.
(10) "Vital records" means any record essential to either or both the
resumption or continuation of operations, to verification or re-creation of the
legal and financial status of government in the state, or to the protection and
fulfillment of obligations to citizens of the state.
(11) "Destruction" means to destroy by shredding, burning, or other
suitable means of obliteration.
(12) "Disposal" means destruction in any manner approved by the
environmental authority; or, transferral into the custody of the repository
designated by the state archivist as most appropriate for continued
maintenance.

Legislative History

Acts 1985, No. 238, §1, eff. July 6, 1985.