Public record accessibility in computer age

at the same time as paper documents. It also allows governments to make electronic copies of requested documents.
It purposely does not define electronic communications as email so other electronic forms of communications, such as text messaging, are also covered.
As the volume of email and electronic messaging methods has overtaken the "paper communication" in business, governmental bodies are more and more seeing that the information they receive is arriving by electronic means.
Since much of that information is public record, the question is 'how is the public able to examine it?'
It is a question that came up recently at a Gilford selectmen's meeting.
Selectman Gus Benavides noted that under the Right-to-Know Law "every citizen during the regular or business hours of all such bodies or agencies, and on the regular business premises of such bodies or agencies, has the right to inspect all public records, including minutes of meetings of the bodies or agencies, and to make memorandums, abstracts, and photographic or photostatic copies of the records or minutes so inspected, except as otherwise prohibited by statute."
Benavides also stressed the importance of the town ensuring that emails which fall into the category of public records are preserved.
All governmental bodies need to examine how they plan to conform with the new law. And public bodies should be promulgating as soon as reasonably possible what the procedures will be so the general public will be informed.
As for the question of ensuring that emails are secure and will not become lost through some inadvertent operator error or oversight to an electronic "glitch," one solution — at least for the time being — would be to print out all emails and place them in the appropriate files just as if the communication was on paper to begin with.
Sometimes the technicalities and intricacies of computers can be overwhelming, especially to those who are not well versed in the field. But emails and other electronic communications are just tools. The main issue which elected and appointed officials need to pay attention to is ensuring that public records are secure, complete and accessible.

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