Records Management

843 Cowan Street
Nashville, Tennessee 37243
Telephone: (615) 741-1718
Fax: (615) 741-5327

"Agency records are one of Tennessee's most valuable resources."

Donna Bridges-CRM, Director
Donna.K.Bridges@state.tn.us

Thomas Oduor, Assistant Director
Thomas.Oduor@state.tn.us

General Information
The Mission of the Records Management Division is to establish a systematic program of controls to assure economic efficiency, administrative continuity, and preservation of State records. We serve as the primary records management agency for State government and provide State agencies with analytical and managerial support using systematic controls encompassing the maintenance, use and final disposition of all records. The Division has been extremely successful in carrying out its mission. In 1994, the Division won the distinguished William Olsten Award for Excellence in Records Management in the Major Municipality/Government Agency category.

The Records Management Division is responsible by direction of the Public Records Commission (TCA 10-7-303) to serve as the primary records management agency for State government and as such directs the disposition of all records, including electronic processed records and computer output microform records; provides administrative support for the State Publications Committee (TCA 12-7-101); and manages the State's Paperwork Reduction and Simplification Act of 1976 (TCA 4-25-101) referred to most often as the Forms Management Program.

Tennessee statute TCA 10-7-303 established the Records Management Division and designated it as the primary agency responsible for the management of State records. The Division is organized into five operational sections:

Consulting and Analytical Services
Records Center Operations
Micrographics Services
Forms Management Program
Publications Management

Tennessee's public records laws define "Public record(s)" or "State record(s)" as all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, microfilms, electronic data processing files and output, films, sound recordings, or other material, regardless of physical form or characteristics made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of offical business by any governmental agency. (TCA 10-7-301, Paragraph 6)

Each State agency, in accordance with statue, is required to designate a records officer who is responsible for coordinating their agency's records management program. (TCA 10-7-304)

Retention and disposition of public records is determined per statute by the Public Records Commission based on an analysis conducted by a qualified Records Analyst to determine the administrative, fiscal, legal and historical value of the record.

Electronic records are generally defined as records stored in a form that only a computer can process. In accordance with established statutes, electronic records are to be managed and maintained in accordance with their administrative, fiscal, legal and historical values. In addition, these records are to be made available for public inspection upon request unless designated confidential by statute.

Micrographics is a records management technology concerning the conversion of paper records to microform as well as the reproduction of microforms. The purchase of micrographic equipment is reviewed by the Micrographics Advisory Committee and is approved by the Records Management Division.

Records management manuals are published by the Records Management Division and are available to State agencies at no charge. Contact the Records Management Division for a copy of the desired manual.

To obtain a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing certain documents referenced by the Records Management Division's URLs, you may visit the Adobe Acrobat World Wide Web download site at

http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html

The following links are at the bottom of each page.