While items on this Schedule for the most part cover records regardless of the format in which they are maintained, electronic records in some subject areas are treated differently in this edition of the schedule. Some electronic records are listed specifically in the Building and Property Regulation, Environmental Health, Information Technology, Public Health, Public Safety, Taxation and Assessment, and Transportation and Engineering sections. Consult the State Archives' Regulations relating to electronic records (Section 185.8, 8NYCRR), and contact the State Archives if you have any questions or problems after reviewing these requirements. Contact the State Archives as well if you need additional information on electronic records falling in the subject areas mentioned above.
Generally, records transmitted through e-mail systems have the same retention periods as records in other formats that are related to the same program function or activity. E-mail records should be scheduled for disposition in conjunction with any other records related to the program function. Local governments may delete, purge, or destroy e-mail records provided that the records have been retained for the minimum retention period established in this Schedule and are not being used for a legal action or audit. Transitory messages may be destroyed in a timely manner, using item no. 57 in the General Administration section of the Schedule. Further information on e-mail records, suggested filing practices, dealing with duplicate copies, and a sample e-mail policy are found on the State Archives' website at http://www.archives.nysed.gov. Contact the State Archives for additional information.
If an official set of records is maintained offline, any electronic records posted to the government’s website for distribution may be considered duplicate records and may be disposed of when no longer needed. A web crawl that captures and preserves an entire or parts of a website may be considered a publication and is covered by item no. 68 in the General Administration section.
