As government employees, we are bound by various laws and policies that describe what we need to do with our records. The good news is that many of our records are considered transitory. This means that they do not have retention value and can and should be destroyed as soon as they are no longer needed.

Some examples of transitory records:

• Accepted meeting notices
• Out-of-office replies
• Cherwell ticket notifications
• Spam
• Personal / Non-work related records
• Newsletters you receive (including this one!)
• Emails you are CC’d on that do not require or result in an action from you
• External reference material
• Most drafts
• Most duplicate copies

Best practice for transitory records:

• Destroy or delete transitory records as soon as you notice them
• Where possible, delete them in bulk (for example: sort your Outlook folder by sender/From to locate groups of transitory records)
• Retain them sparingly
• But if you want to keep them as reference, store them separately from other records
• Avoid creating or sending transitory records in the first place

For more information, visit the county’s Records Management Program website or contact them at records.management@kingcounty.gov. The Records Management Program, in the Department of Executive Services, provides guidance, resources, and training to all King County employees to assist them with managing King County’s public records according to state and local legal requirements and best practices.