Anything that has information, regardless of format, can be considered a record. This includes digital formats and social media.
ARS § 41-151.2 (a) defines a record as "...all books, papers, maps, photographs or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, including prints or copies of such items produced or reproduced on film or electronic media pursuant to section 41-151.16, made or received by any governmental agency in pursuance of law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by the agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the government, or because of the informational and historical value of data contained in the record."
ARS § 41-151.2 (c) defines a non-record as "...library or museum material made or acquired solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference and stocks of publications or documents intended for sale or distribution to interested persons."
Permanent records are records that have enduring, historical or research value that are retained permanently in an office or in the Arizona State Archives after a period of active use. Records are considered permanent if they have enduring administrative, fiscal or legal value to the government or if they possess significant secondary research value beyond those for which they were created. Permanent records are also known as historically significant, historical, or archival records.
Non-permanent records are which can be discarded after they have met their retention period.
Transitory records are records that have temporary information and are only needed for a short period of time to complete routine processes.
Sometimes a record series may not have a permanent retention period, but some records within that series may become permanent records when they are impacted by local or national events or issues. These records become historical when they:
Please contact the Archives and Records Management Branch to determine if records should be considered historically significant.
There is no single federal or state law that governs all use or disclosure of confidential information. The Arizona Attorney General's Agency Handbook provides a list of records made confidential/non-disclosable by Arizona statute.
Link to Arizona Attorney General Handbook
The Attorney General's Agency Handbook was last updated in 2018. Public bodies are advised to consult with their counsel for changes to relevant statutes.
Judicial Records: The maintenance and disclosure of judicial records are governed by Supreme Court Rule 123. Link to Arizona Supreme Court rules
A born-digital record is a record that was created electronically and can stay in an electronic format. The record must be maintained in a format that is retrievable and accessible for the length of its retention period.
A digitized record is a record that was in a different format originally and then converted to a digital format.
The Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records and its employees do not certify, endorse, or approve any specific system, software, or hardware for the filming, scanning, management, storage, retrieval, retention, or disposition of records.
Public bodies are encouraged to review the standards and guidance published by our agency when reviewing vendors.
Vendors that have negotiated state contracts for services may be located through the State Procurement Office's website. https://spo.az.gov/