For the Record: Email Is Not the Preferred Medium

Electronic mail is primarily a communication system. It is a quick and convenient way to distribute information that will follow as official memoranda, to set up meetings, and to be notified about phone calls. Note, however, that email messages are public documents--or records--when they have been composed or received by employees of the UW in connection with the transaction of public business. As such, they are subject to disclosure to the public and also have a records retention requirement.

Pitfalls of Electronic Storage Only

• Email folders might not be backed up or, if they are, they might be saved for only a short period of time.

• Desktop files are rarely set up to deal with disaster recovery (backup and off-site storage), aging of media, conversions to new systems, etc.

• Access to email folders in a password-protected account may be too limited for departmental records. But if you store the documents on a departmental PC that is not password protected, you risk unauthorized access.

• There is no UW process in place to guarantee authentication and authorization of electronically stored records.

Because of these and other pitfalls associated with electronically stored records, official university business requiring record retention should be reflected in paper documents.

Paper Preferred for Public Documents