Office of Information Practices

U Memo 24-09
April 26, 2024
Reasonable Search for Visitor Sign-in Sheets

Requester sought a copy of Hokulani Elementary School’s (Hokulani) visitor sign-in sheet for January 13, 2012.  The Department of Education (DOE) denied the request on the basis that it no longer maintained the requested visitor sign-in sheet.   Requester appealed DOE’s denial to OIP.  

When a requester contests an agency’s response to a record request by stating that no responsive record exists, OIP will generally examine whether the agency’s search for a responsive record was reasonable.  OIP Op. Ltr. No. 97-8 at 4-6.  A reasonable search is one “reasonably calculated to uncover all relevant documents,” and an agency must make “a good faith effort to conduct a search for the requested records, using methods which can be reasonably expected to produce the information requested.”   Id. at 5 (citations omitted). 

Based on information provided by DOE, OIP found that DOE conducted a reasonable search for the requested sign-in sheet in locations where the responsive record would likely to have been found.  OIP found that the Hokulani custodian of records had actual knowledge that Hokulani did not maintain visitor sign-in sheets from previous school years in either physical or electronic form.  OIP therefore concluded that DOE’s response that it does not maintain the record was proper under section 2-71-14(c), Hawaii Administrative Rules, and the UIPA.