Jean,
At least here in Virginia, we have a clear cut policy established by both
the Code of VA and the interpretation by the Library of Virginia.  See
below.

Legality of Reformatted Records 



Laws of evidence. Both Virginia and federal laws recognize the legal status
of copies made from various sources, including electronic data stored on
optical media (refer to Code of Virginia, Section 8.01-391, Copies of
Originals as Evidence). The law of evidence allows copies produced from
originals to be admissible as evidence as long as the final reproduced
image: 


Accurately reproduces the original. 


Was made or received during the performance of the agency's or locality's
official business. 


Is satisfactorily identified and authenticated by a custodian of the
original record. 




However, when an image can be easily manipulated or changed, the burden of
proving the information is acceptable as evidence increases. 


Authenticating records. The following procedures will facilitate the
authentication of records recorded, stored or reproduced: 


A written policy statement and procedures formalizing the recording, storage
or reproduction of public records. 


A list of users and their access privileges, maintained and audited
regularly. 


An audit trail documenting who scanned or edited images and when this
occurred. 




Destroying Records After Reformatting 



If records are reformatted and the new version has been inspected and meets
the standards set by the Library of Virginia (refer to the "Related
Resources" section of this chapter), the originals may be destroyed before
their stated retention period has elapsed. 


Remember, to ensure access to the information, you must maintain the
hardware and software for the newly reformatted records throughout their
retention period. 


A Certificate of Records Destruction (RM-3 form) must be sent to the Records
Management and Imaging Services Division once the original records are
destroyed. A statement indicating the original records were reformatted
according to Library of Virginia guidelines and standards must be on the
form.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeanne Callen [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 10:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Imaging MSDS-Again

Hope everyone had a happy holiday. One more confusing question for the list
regarding scanning MSDS.  Once the image is scanned, does the paper remain
the original and the image is the copy?  Or is it the other way around?

Any advise on this topic would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you inadvance,
Jeanne

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
 

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance