I've been pondering Deb's message.   First, I'm don't agree that these
are public records.  That's an interesting question as our university
attorney made the statement to me that when we get a donation to Special
Collections (family papers, etc.), they are now public records because
state law defines public records are those materials created and used by
an agency in its day-to-day business.   Her point was that if our
business is documenting and providing reference material, everything we
have is public record.

However, we do have a clause in the Public Records Law that points to
agreements and copyright in archival collections so I was able to
highlight that for her.  

 

Looking at this a different way, say the investigation was about Marilyn
Monroe and you contacted me, a photographer, who had taken pictures of
Marilyn (with signed agreements about modeling, use, etc.), and

the investigator said "can I have a picture of Marilyn" and "I said
sure."   By doing that, I was not granting permission for continual
reproduction, sale, transferring copyright, etc.   So yes, I think the
attorney in this Bundy case could be correct, they're not public and you
shouldn't be handing out photocopies (reproductions) on request.
Transferring the older files to the Archives does not, in my opinion,
change the status to public records either.     Just because the
photographs came into the hands of the investigators did not make them
public records.   

 

The investigator's exchange that Deb cites does not answer the questions
either.   The investigator told the person who shared the pictures that
they'd be used for witnesses to identify Bundy - NOT that they'd become
owned by the Department, become public records, etc.     It seems to me
that the Department should simply have copied the pictures, returning
the originals to the owner, and marking the Department copies are not to
be reproduced.    That way the file record remained intact.

 

I'd be interested in other opinions.

 

Dean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dean DeBolt

University Librarian, Special Collections

John C. Pace Library, University of West Florida

11000 University Parkway

Pensacola, FL  32514-5750

850-474-2213

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