The University Archives and Records Center offers free, customized training and consultation. Email recmgmt@louisville.edu if you are interested in having someone visit your unit.
The Lingo of Records Management
Characteristic | Value |
---|---|
Archival: | Materials that are permanent or have ongoing value. |
Born Digital: | Information originally created in an electronic format. |
Custodian: | The individual or organization having possession of and responsibility for the care and control of records. |
Disposition: | Records’ final destruction, deletion, or transfer to an archive. |
Electronic Record: | Data and information that has been captured and fixed through electronic means, and that requires the use of specialized equipment and systems to render it intelligible by a person. Also called a machine readable record. |
Information Governance: | The process of establishing policies and procedures across an organization to manage information as a cohesive resource. Information governance is often geared toward meeting legal, regulatory, risk, and business needs. |
Media: | The physical materials the carries information (e.g. paper, compact disk, magnetic tape). |
Public Records: | Data and information, regardless of physical form or characteristics, which are prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public agency. |
Record Copy: | The single copy of a record—often the original—that is designated as the official copy for use and preservation. |
Records Management: | The systematic, orderly, and efficient control of records throughout their creation, use, and disposition. |
Reference Value: | The usefulness of records based on their informational content. |
Retention Schedule: | A document that identifies and describes an organization’s records and provides instructions for the final disposition of those records. Also called a disposal schedule, records schedule, or records retention schedule. |
Series: | A group of similar records that are related as the result of being created, received, or used for the same function. |