Official Guidelines

Records and Information Management

Guidance for government records

We create guidelines to assist Utah government agencies to better manage their records.

All official guidelines follow a rigorous creation and review process, and are drawn from our research, consultations, combined experience, and input from stakeholders.

Oaths of Office filing instructions

State and local officers are required to take an oath of office. This page includes instructions on how to administer an oath, what the wording is, and how to file an oath with State Archives.

Read instructions
Man with glasses taking an oath

Social media records

Covers the development of a social media policy, personal versus official accounts, preservation of historical content, and resources for further study.

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Email management

This guideline covers legal requirements, retention schedules, email management tools, historical preservation, creating an internal email management policy, and resources for further study.

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Managing data when using a third-party vendor

Many agencies utilize third-party vendors to help provide services to the public, resulting in third-party vendors retaining government records. This guideline covers ownership of such records, records retention, records access, security, contracts, and resources for further study.

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Preserving records in databases

This guideline explains how databases function and what constitutes a record, how to use retention schedules within a database, how to send database records to State Archives, database preservation standards, and resources for further study.

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Documenting significant events

This guideline covers which records to save to document agency responses to significant events such as a pandemic, earthquake, or forest fire, as well as what general retention schedules to use.

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Government records on personal devices

Government records aren't just created in the office—any text, video, photo, or other file may be a government record if it documents the agency's business.

These two infographics provide basic information about requirements for records on personal devices. The state government infographic is written for managers.

View graphic for local government
View PDF for state government

Records officer knowledge base

View additional resources on a variety of topics.

Knowledge base