Government records document the state of Wyoming’s official operations, as conducted by elected officials and state agency staff.  Agency staff manage these records while they are in state offices.  What happens when these records are not needed for everyday activity?

Records which have been evaluated by State Archives staff as having long term historical or evidential value are transferred to the State Archives. There staff process and describe them, so that they can be made available to the public for research.

To provide for the orderly evaluation and eventual destruction of non-permanent records, agency staff are provided with a set of Records Retention Schedules which mandate retention periods for each type of records in their care.  These schedules are approved, by statute, by the State Records Committee.  Schedules reflect statutes and regulations which govern how long certain records must be maintained.  Agency staff use the RIMS records management database to list boxes of records for transfer to the State Records Center where semi-active records are maintained by records management staff until their retention period is completed.  During this time, the records remain in the control of the creating agency, but are serviced by records management staff.  Records can be transferred back to the creating office at any time for review or if they become active and needed in the office again.

When the retention period has been reached, Records Analysts create a report which is sent to Records Officers (see below) in each agency.  Only after the agency representative has signed off on the report will records be securely disposed of, or recycled if appropriate.  

Records Management staff work with state agency staff to train them in use of the RIMS database. This database enables agency staff to transfer records to and from our secure Records Center.  Ask your analyst to set up your account in this database and for training on how to use it.

The State Archives maintains an Imaging Center whose staff are available to scan selected state agency records, including records which have been previously microfilmed.  Guidelines on preparation of documents for scanning are available. The State Imaging Center’s goals are to improve state agencies’ access to their records and to decrease the state’s demand for storage space for paper records.  Preference is given to records which, once digitized, will be entered into the Wyoming Digital Archives, the state’s secure digital repository.  

The Wyoming Digital Archives is a secure repository where state agencies can store, manage, and access electronic records with long-term or permanent value. Developed by the State Archives, the Digital Archives uses HP Records Manager software to provide agencies a way to preserve and manage their electronic records in much the same way the State Records Center does for paper records.  Contact Cindy Brown to learn more about security, storage, retrieval, and costs associated with this option.

Records management staff maintain records retention schedules for local government records.  They provide consultation on records management, including retention requirements and digitization guidelines.  The State Archives does not provide storage for non-permanent local records, however some records such as court records should be transferred to the State Archives for permanent retention.  Please consult the Analyst assigned to “Political Subdivisions” for further guidance.

Wyoming Statutes 9-2-410 states: “All public records are the property of the state. They shall be delivered by outgoing officials and employees to their successors and shall be preserved, stored, transferred, destroyed or disposed of, and otherwise managed, only in accordance with W.S. 9-2-405 through 9-2-413."

Wyoming Statutes 9-2-401(a)(v) states that "'Public record' includes the original and all copies of any paper, correspondence, form, book, photograph, photostat, film, microfilm, scan, sound recording, map, drawing or other document, regardless of physical, digital or electronic form or characteristics, which have been made or received in transacting public business by the state, a political subdivision or an agency of the state."

Carmen Clayton

Records Analysts