What to do when you are assigned a public records request
If you have been assigned to a public records request, promptly begin gathering the records in your possession that are responsive to the request, unless it will take longer than one hour to retrieve documents. In that case, please estimate the number of hours it will take to compile records. The Office of Transparency will send an invoice to the requester for the estimated time.
If payment is required, wait to gather responsive records until notified by the Office of Transparency that the invoice has been paid.
Public records include all “records, documents, tape or other information, stored or preserved in any medium, of or belonging to this state.” Examples of records are emails, paper documents, electronic files, attachments to emails, text messages, instant messages, voice messages, photos or images.
Records created in the conduct of university business, including work-related communications, are still public records even if they are stored in your personal devices (e.g. work-related emails sent from a personal email account or texts sent from a personal cell phone).
When retrieving records, make sure to search all possible folders and locations, including but not limited to
When retrieving records, make sure to search all possible folders and locations, including but not limited to:
- Inbox
- Sent folder
- Other email folders
- Deleted folder
- Personal folders or .pst files stored on your hard drive or file server
- Storage cloud
- Hard drives/Network drives
- Document sharing accounts (i.e. Sharepoint)
- Hard copy folders
- Personal devices (for example, emails sent through your personal email account, text messages sent on your personal cell phone).
Submitting your records
Once you have finished gathering the records, send all responsive materials to the Office of Transparency, preferably in some type of electronic format. Below are some ideas for saving and sending your electronic records:
- Save your emails as a .pst file and upload the file to OneDrive.
- Save all emails/records in a folder, convert to a zip file, and email the file to public-records@uiowa.edu. If the file size is too large, it can be uploaded to OneDrive, or it can be sent to the Office of Transparency on a flash drive.
- Forward each responsive email individually to public-records@uiowa.edu.
- Send one email to public-records@uiowa.edu, with all of the responsive emails/records attached.
For paper documents, please scan all pages and email the file to public-records@uiowa.edu.
Important: Do not delete, destroy, or conceal any record that is subject to a pending public records request.
All responsive materials should be sent to the Office of Transparency. Do not withhold or redact any records because you think the information is confidential or exempt from release. Leave that determination to the Office of Transparency, who will consult with the Office of General Counsel. If you believe a record is confidential, you may flag it for the Office of Transparency, but you should still send the original record to the Office of Transparency for review.
Best Practices: Email Use and Record Retention
Use caution in sending messages which contain confidential or sensitive information. Any record or email could be considered a public record.
Records are maintained in accordance with the University’s Record Retention Policy (Policy Manual V, Chapter 17). “Official” records should not be destroyed or disposed of by faculty or staff except as outlined in the Retention Schedule. However, “transitory” records such as emails or text messages do not carry a requirement for retention and may be destroyed at the discretion of the user when they cease to be useful (unless there is already a pending public records request for those records).