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<br />Subject to the availability of funds, such program shall be extended to the records of permanent value of the cities,
<br />municipalities, and other subdivisions of government.
<br />(d) Preservation of Permanently Valuable Records. -Public records certified by the Department of Cultural
<br />Resources as being of permanent value shall be preserved in the custody of the agency in which the records are
<br />normally kept or of the North Carolina State Archives. Any State, county, municipal, or other public official is hereby
<br />authorized and empowered to turn over to the Department of Cultural Resources any State, county, municipal, or other
<br />public records no longer in current official use, and the Department of Cultural Resources is authorized in its discretion
<br />to accept such records, and having done so shall provide for their administration and preservation in the North
<br />Carolina State Archives. When such records have been thus surrendered, photocopies, microfilms, typescripts, or
<br />other copies of them shall be made and certified under seal of the Department, upon application of any person, which
<br />certification shall have the same force and effect as if made by the official or agency by which the records were
<br />transferred to the Department of Cultural Resources; and the Department may charge reasonable fees for these
<br />copies. The Department may answer written inquiries for nonresidents of the State and for this service may charge a
<br />search and handling fee not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00). The receipts from this fee shall be used to defray
<br />the cost of providing this service. (1907, c. 714, s. 5; C.S., s. 6145; 1939, c. 249; 1943, c. 237; 1945, c. 55; 1953, c.
<br />224; 1955, c. 543, s. 1; 1959, c. 1162; 1973, c. 476, s. 48; 1979, c. 361; c. 801, s. 95; 1981, c. 406, ss. 1, 2; 1993, c.
<br />539, s. 916; 1994, Ex_ Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 1997-309, s. 13; 2001-427, s. 3(a).)
<br />G.S. 132, the Public Records Law
<br />§ 132-2. Custodian designated.
<br />The public official in charge of an office having public records shall be the custodian thereof. (1935, c. 265, s. 2.)
<br />§ 132-3. Destruction of records regulated.
<br />(a) Prohibition. - No public official may destroy, sell, loan, or otherwise dispose of any public record, except in
<br />accordance with G.S. 121-5 and G.S. 130A-99, without the consent of the Department of Cultural Resources. Whoever
<br />unlawfully removes a public record from the office where it is usually kept, or alters, defaces, mutilates or destroys it
<br />shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor and upon conviction only fined not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more
<br />than five hundred dollars ($500.00).
<br />§ 132-4. Disposition of records at end of official's term.
<br />Whoever has the custody of any public records shall, at the expiration of his term of office, deliver to his successor,
<br />or, if there be none, to the Department of Cultural Resources, all records, books, writings, letters and documents kept
<br />or received by him in the transaction of his official business; and any such person who shall refuse or neglect for the
<br />space of 10 days after request made in writing by any citizen of the State to deliver as herein required such public
<br />records to the person authorized to receive them shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. (1935, c. 265, s. 4; 1943, c.
<br />237; 1973, c. 476, s. 48; 1975, c. 696, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 967; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)
<br />§ 132-8. Assistance by and to Department of Cultural Resources.
<br />The Department of Cultural Resources shall have the right to examine into the condition of public records and shall
<br />give advice and assistance to public officials in the solution of their problems of preserving, filing and making available
<br />the public records in their custody. When requested by the Department of Cultural Resources, public officials shall
<br />assist the Department in the preparation of an inclusive inventory of records in their custody, to which shall be attached
<br />a schedule, approved by the head of the governmental unit or agency having custody of the records and the Secretary
<br />of Cultural Resources, establishing a time period for the retention or disposal of each series of records. Upon the
<br />completion of the inventory and schedule, the Department of Cultural Resources shall (subject to the availability of
<br />necessary space, staff, and other facilities for such purposes) make available space in its Records Center for the filing
<br />of semicurrent records so scheduled and in its archives for noncurrent records of permanent value, and shall render
<br />such other assistance as needed, including the microfilming of records so scheduled. (1935, c. 265, s. 8; 1943, c. 237;
<br />1959, c. 68, s. 2; 1973, c. 476, s. 48.)
<br />§ 132-8.1. Records management program administered by Department of Cultural Resources; establishment
<br />of standards, procedures, etc.; surveys.
<br />A records management program for the application of efficient and economical management methods to the
<br />creation, utilization, maintenance, retention, preservation, and disposal of official records shall be administered by the
<br />Department of Cultural Resources. It shall be the duty of that Department, in cooperation with and with the approval of
<br />the Department of Administration, to establish standards, procedures, and techniques for effective management of
<br />public records, to make continuing surveys of paper work operations, and to recommend improvements in current
<br />MAILING ADDRESS: Telephone (919) 807-7350 LOCATION:
<br />4615 Mail Service Center Facsimile (919) 715-3627 215 N. Blount Street
<br />Raleigh, N.C. 27699-4615 Raleigh, N.C. 27601-2823
<br />State Courier 51-81-20
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