**Appendix A - Glossary**

[A](#A)  [B](#B)  [C](#C)  [D](#C)   [E](#E)  [F](#F)  [G](#G)  [I](#I) 
[L](#I)  [M](#M)  [N](#N)   [O](#O)  [P](#P)  [R](#P)  [S](#S)  [T](#T) 
[V](#V)  [W](#W)

 

[]{#A .anchor}**A      ** [Top](#A)

> **[Accession.]{.underline}** The transfer of the legal and physical
> custody of records from an agency to an archival agency or a records
> center. The agency retains legal custody of the records when
> transferred for temporary storage at a records center.
>
> **[Accession Number.]{.underline}** A number assigned to identify
> shipments of records in the records center.
>
> **[Adequacy of Documentation.]{.underline}** A standard of
> sufficiently and properly recorded actions and/or decisions. Derives
> from the legal requirement that agency heads \"make and preserve
> records containing adequate and proper documentation of
> the organizations, functions, policies, decisions, procedures,
> and essential transactions of the agency and designed to furnish
> the information necessary to protect the legal and financial rights of
> the Government and of persons directly affected by the agency\'s
> activities\" (U.S.C. 3101).
>
> **[Agency Records (FOIA Records).]{.underline}** The Supreme Court has
> articulated a basic, two-part test for determining what constitutes
> \"agency records\" under the FOIA: \"Agency records\" are records that
> are (1) either created or obtained by an agency, and (2) under agency
> control at the time of the FOIA request. Inasmuch as the \"agency
> record\" analysis usually hinges upon whether an agency has sufficient
> \"control\" over a record, courts have identified four relevant
> factors for an agency to consider when making such a determination:
> the intent of the record\'s creator to retain or relinquish control
> over the record; the ability of the agency to use and dispose of the
> record as it sees fit; the extent to which agency personnel have read
> or relied upon the record; and the degree to which the record was
> integrated into the agency\'s recordkeeping system or files.Agency
> \"control\" is also the predominant consideration in determining the
> \"agency record\" status of records that are either generated or
> maintained by a government contractor.
>
> **[Alphabetic-Subject Filing System.]{.underline}** A classification
> system in which subjects are arranged in alphabetical order regardless
> of their relationship to one another. For example, the subject
> \"adrenalin\" might immediately follow the subject \"administration.\"
>
> **[Appraisal.]{.underline}** The process of determining the value, and
> thus the final disposition of records, making them either temporary or
> permanent.
>
> **[Archives.]{.underline}** The noncurrent records of an organization,
> preserved because of their continuing or enduring value.
>
> **[Audiovisual Records.]{.underline}** Records in pictorial or audio
> form, regardless of format. Includes still photographs or still
> pictures, graphic arts (posters and original art), motion pictures,
> video recordings, audio (or sound) recordings, and related records.

[]{#B .anchor}**B**          [Top](#A)

> **[Block.]{.underline}** A chronological grouping of records
> consisting of one or more segments of cutoff records, that belong to
> the same series and are dealt with as a unit for purposes of their
> sufficient transfer, especially the transfer of permanent records to
> the National Archives. For example, the records schedule may direct a
> transfer of permanent records in 5-year blocks. In electronic
> recordkeeping, a grouping of data stored as a unit on an external
> storage medium and dealt with as a unit by the computer for input or
> output.

[]{#C .anchor}**C**         [Top](#A)

> **[Cartographic Records.]{.underline}** Graphic representations at
> reduced scale of selected physical and cultural features of the
> surface of the earth and other planets. Includes maps, charts
> (hydrographic/nautical, weather, and aeronautical), photomaps,
> atlases, cartograms, globes, relief models, and related records, such
> as field survey notes, map history case files, and finding aids. Also
> includes geographic information system records, or digital
> cartographic records, which are managed like other electronic records.
>
> **[Central Files.]{.underline}** Files accumulated by several offices
> organizational units, and maintained and supervised in one location;
> also called centralized files. This arrangement is most effective in
> small organizations.
>
> **[Charge Out.]{.underline}** The act and result of recording the
> removal and loan of a document or a file, from the main filing system,
> to include its location. Usually involves the use of a form, such as
> OF-23, Charge out Record.
>
> **[Classification.]{.underline}** The process of determining the
> sequence or order in which to arrange documents.
>
> **[Classified Information.]{.underline}** Records or information
> requiring, for national security reasons, safeguards against
> unauthorized disclosure.
>
> **[Closed File.]{.underline}** A file unit or series containing
> documents, on which action has been completed and to which more
> documents are not likely to be added. A file unit or series to which
> access is limited or denied.
>
> **[Contingent Records.]{.underline}** Records scheduled for final
> disposition after the occurrence of an event at some unspecified
> future time, such as an internal audit.
>
> **[Continuity Reference.]{.underline}** A reference form used to
> replace material withdrawn for consolidation with more up-to-date
> material.
>
> **[Current Records.]{.underline}** (Also referred to as \"active
> records.\") Records that are necessary for conducting the current
> business of an office and must be maintained in office space and
> equipment.
>
> **[Costing.]{.underline}** The calculated financial cost of storing 1
> cubic foot of records both on and off site for a government facility.
>
> **[Cut-Off.]{.underline}** Breaking or ending files at regular
> intervals, usually at the close of a fiscal or calendar year, to
> permit their disposal or transfer in complete blocks and to permit the
> establishment of new files. (Also called file cutoff or file break.)

**D**     [Top](#A)

> **[Decentralized Files.]{.underline}** Files accumulated by each
> principal element of an agency and maintained at the point of
> reference.
>
> **[Disposal.]{.underline}** The actions taken regarding temporary or
> nonpermanent records after their retention periods expire, and
> including either destruction or, in rare instances, donation. Also,
> when so specified, the actions taken regarding non-record materials
> when no longer needed, especially their destruction.
>
> **[Disposal Authority.]{.underline}** Legal approval empowering an
> agency to transfer permanent records to the National Archives or
> carrying out the disposal of temporary records. Must be obtained from
> the National Archives and Records Administration and also, for certain
> records proposed as temporary, from the General Accounting Office. The
> agency\'s approval of disposition instructions for non-record
> material.
>
> **[Dispose.]{.underline}** To carry out disposal, which includes
> either the destruction or the donation of temporary records, but not
> the transfer of permanent records to the National Archives.
>
> **[Disposition Schedule.]{.underline}** A document providing authority
> for the final disposition of recurring or nonrecurring records. Also
> called records disposition schedule, records control schedule, records
> retention schedule, or schedule. Includes the SF-115, Requests for
> Records Disposition Authority, the General Records Schedules, and the
> agency records schedule, which when completed becomes a comprehensive
> records schedule that also contains agency disposition instructions
> for non-record materials.

[]{#E .anchor}**E         [Top](#A)**

> **[E-discovery.]{.underline}** An abbreviated term for electronic
> discovery, is the obligation of parties to a lawsuit to exchange
> documents that exist only in electronic form. Amendments to the
> Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, enacted in late 2006, now compel
> include civil litigants to preserve and produce electronic evidence.
> Examples of electronic documents and data subject to e-discovery are
> e-mails, voicemails, instant messages, e-calendars, audio files, data
> on handheld devices, animation, metadata, graphics, photographs,
> spreadsheets, websites, drawings and other types of digital data.
>
> **[Electronic Mail System.]{.underline}** A computer application used
> to create, receive, and transmit messages and other documents or
> create calendars that can be used by multiple staff members. Excluded
> from this definition are file transfer utilities (software that
> transmits files between users but does not retain any transmission
> data), data systems used to collect and process data that have been
> organized into data files or databases on either personal computers or
> mainframe computers, and word processing documents not transmitted on
> an E-mail system.
>
> **[Electronic Record.]{.underline}** Numeric, graphic, text, and any
> other information recorded on any medium that can be read using a
> computer and satisfies the definition of a Federal record in 44 U.S.C.
> 3301. This includes, but is not limited to, both on-line storage and
> off-line media such as tapes, disks, and optical disks. \[36 CFR
> 1234.1\]
>
> **[Electronic Mail Message.]{.underline}** A document created or
> received on an E-mail system, including brief notes, substantive
> documents, and any attachments which may be transmitted with the
> message.
>
> **[Emergency-Operating Records.]{.underline}** Vital records essential
> to the continued functioning or reconstitution of an organization
> during and after an emergency.

[]{#F .anchor}**F**     [Top](#A)

> **[Federal Records Center.]{.underline}** A storage facility operated
> by the National Archives and Records Administration.
>
> **[File Plan.]{.underline}** A listing of the files (not necessarily
> records) contained in a specified location. An inventory is a
> descriptive listing of each record series or system and other
> pertinent data.
>
> **[Files.]{.underline}** A collective term usually applied to all
> records and non-record materials of an office or agency.
>
> **[Files Custodian.]{.underline}** The individual or office in charge
> of agency files. Often used interchangeably with records custodian.
>
> **[Filing System.]{.underline}** A set of policies and procedures for
> organizing and identifying files or documents to speed their
> retrieval, use, and disposition. (Sometimes called recordkeeping
> system.)
>
> **[Finding Aids.]{.underline}** Indexes or other lists, manual or
> automated, that are designed to make it easier to locate relevant
> files.
>
> **[Fiscal Value.]{.underline}** The usefulness of records in
> documenting an agency\'s financial transactions and obligations.
>
> **[FOIA Records (Agency Records).]{.underline}** The Supreme Court has
> articulated a basic, two-part test for determining what constitutes
> \"agency records\" under the FOIA: \"Agency records\" are records that
> are (1) either created or obtained by an agency, and (2) under agency
> control at the time of the FOIA request. Inasmuch as the \"agency
> record\" analysis usually hinges upon whether an agency has sufficient
> \"control\" over a record, courts have identified four relevant
> factors for an agency to consider when making such a determination:
> the intent of the record\'s creator to retain or relinquish control
> over the record; the ability of the agency to use and dispose of the
> record as it sees fit; the extent to which agency personnel have read
> or relied upon the record; and the degree to which the record was
> integrated into the agency\'s recordkeeping system or files.Agency
> \"control\" is also the predominant consideration in determining the
> \"agency record\" status of records that are either generated or
> maintained by a government contractor.
>
> **[Frozen Records.]{.underline}** In records disposition, those
> temporary records that cannot be destroyed on schedule because special
> circumstances, such as a court order, require a temporary extension of
> the approved retention period. Also see Litigation Hold.

[]{#G .anchor}**G    ** [Top](#A)

> **[General Records Schedule.]{.underline}** Schedules authorizing the
> disposal, after the lapse of specified periods of time, of records
> common to several or all agencies, if such records will not, at the
> end of the periods specified, have sufficient administrative, legal,
> research, or other value to warrant their further preservation by the
> United States Government. \[44 U.S.C. 3303A(d)\]

[]{#I .anchor}**I**     [Top](#A)

> **[Inactive or Noncurrent Records.]{.underline}** Records no longer
> required to conduct agency business and therefore ready for final
> disposition.
>
> **Information Technology (IT) System.** A discrete set of information
> resources organized for the collection, processing, maintenance,
> transmission, and dissemination of information, in accordance with
> defined procedures, whether automated or manual to support HHS' or
> OPDIV's mission. An interconnected set of information resources under
> the same direct management control, which shares common functionality.
> A system normally includes hardware, software, information, data,
> applications, communications, and people. Refers to a set of
> information resources under the same management control that share
> common functionality and require the same level of security controls.
>
> **[Intrinsic Value.]{.underline}** In archives administration, the
> value of those permanent records that should be preserved in their
> original form rather than as copies.
>
> **[Inventory.]{.underline}** A survey of agency records and non-record
> materials taken before developing schedules. A File Plan is a listing
> of the files (not necessarily records) contained in a specified
> location. An inventory is a descriptive listing of each record series
> or system and other pertinent data.
>
> **[Item.]{.underline}** A separately numbered entry describing records
> on Form SF-115, Request for Records Disposition Authority. Usually
> consists of a record series or part of an information system. A
> document.

**L**     [Top](#A)

> **[Legal Custody.]{.underline}** Guardianship, or control, of records,
> including both physical possession (physical custody) and legal
> responsibility (legal custody), unless one or the other is specified.
>
> **[Legal Value.]{.underline}** The usefulness of records in
> documenting legally enforceable rights or obligations, both those of
> the Federal Government and those of persons directly affected by the
> agency\'s activities.
>
> **[Life Cycle of Records.]{.underline}** The concept that records pass
> through three main stages: creation, maintenance and use, and
> disposition.
>
> **[Litigation Hold]{.underline}** Within the context of records
> management, a \"hold\" is an agency\'s temporary suspension of
> disposition action(s) because of legal, audit, or investigative needs.
> When a hold is initiated, documentary materials, regardless of
> physical location, are required to be kept for as long as the hold is
> in place. Because this category of records potentially could affect
> multiple OPDIVs, it is imperative that all potential holders of the
> information be informed to preserve and not destroy or alter any
> documents of any type, including hard copy, electronic format, and
> e-mails. Also see Frozen Records.

[]{#M .anchor}**M**     [Top](#A)

> **[Mnemonic Filing System.]{.underline}** A classification system in
> which records are coded by symbols that remind the user of the
> subjects; for example, ADM for administration and PER for personnel.
> These symbols are usually arranged alphabetically.

[]{#N .anchor}**N    ** [Top](#A)

> **[National Archives.]{.underline}** The organization or agency
> responsible for appraising, accessioning, preserving, and making
> available permanent records.
>
> **[National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).]{.underline}**
> The agency having overall responsibility for the records management
> program throughout the Federal Government. When permanent records are
> transferred to the National Archives, they are placed in the custody
> of NARA\'s Office of the National Archives.
>
> **[Non-record.]{.underline}** U.S. Government-owned informational
> materials excluded from the legal definition of records. Consists of
> extra copies of documents kept only for convenience of reference,
> stocks of publications and of processed documents, and library or
> museum material intended solely for reference or exhibition.
>
> **[Numeric-alphabetic Filing System.]{.underline}** A classification
> system in which numbers are assigned to main divisions, and letters
> and numbers to succeeding subdivisions, and the records are arranged
> accordingly. For example, \"ADM\" might stand for \"Administrative
> Management,\" and \"1\" for the subdivision \"Policy.\" \"ADM 2\"
> might stand for \"Reports and Statistics,\" and further subdivided
> under this subject may be \"ADM 2-1, Activity Reports.\"

[]{#O .anchor}**O    ** [Top](#A)

> **[Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR).]{.underline}** The office
> delegated responsibility for a specific function. This office normally
> maintains the official agency record, including the yellow copy and
> related incoming correspondence. The OPR may designate other offices
> to maintain the official agency record copy for that function.
>
> **[Official File Station.]{.underline}** Any location in an
> organization at whichrecords are maintained for current use.
>
> **[Official Record Copy.]{.underline}** The yellow file or otherwise
> designated copy maintained by the originating office. Also includes
> incoming correspondence used to document a specific function.

[]{#P .anchor}**P    **[Top](#A)

> **[Permanent Records.]{.underline}** Records appraised by the National
> Archives and Records Administration as having sufficient historical or
> other value to warrant continued preservation by the Federal
> Government, beyond the time they are needed for administrative, legal,
> or fiscal purposes. Sometimes called \"archival records.\"
>
> **[Personal Papers.]{.underline}** Nonofficial or private papers,
> relating solely to an individual\'s own affairs. Must be clearly
> designated as such and kept separate from the agency\'s records. Also
> called \"personal files\" or \"personal records.\"
>
> **[Preserved Record.]{.underline}** Documentary materials that have
> been deliberately filed, stored, or otherwise systematically
> maintained as evidence of the organization, functions, policies,
> decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the
> Government, or because of the informational value of the data. This
> applies to documentary materials in a file or other storage system,
> including electronic files and systems, and those temporarily removed
> from the files or other storage systems.
>
> **[Program Records.]{.underline}** Records documenting the unique,
> substantive functions for which an agency is responsible, in contrast
> to administrative records.
>
> **[Public Records.]{.underline}** In general usage, records
> accumulated by Government agencies. Records open to public inspection
> by law or custom.

**R**     [Top](#A)

> **[Reading Files.]{.underline}** Outgoing correspondence records
> arranged chronologically, in contrast to those arranged by subject.
> (Chronological (chron) or day files.)
>
> **[Record Group.]{.underline}** A body of organizationally related
> records, established by an archival agency after considering the
> organization\'s administrative history and complexity and the volume
> of its records. National Archives and Records Administration uses
> record group numbers to keep track of agency records during and after
> the scheduling process, including those transferred to a Federal
> Records Center and/or the National Archives.
>
> **[Records Maintenance System (Centralized).]{.underline}** A
> centralized records maintenance system is one in which all records
> accumulating in an organization unit are centralized in one location,
> and designated personnel are assigned the responsibility to properly
> manage the organization\'s records. As technology advances and the
> need for information grows, a centralized records maintenance system
> may prove to be more cost effective and achieve greater benefits than
> those associated with a decentralized system.
>
> **[Records Maintenance Systems (Decentralized).]{.underline}** A
> decentralized records maintenance system is one in which accumulating
> records are maintained by the individuals performing the agency\'s
> functions, or the originators.
>
> **[Record Series.]{.underline}** File units or documents arranged
> according to a filing system, or kept together because they relate to
> a particular subject or function, result from the same activity,
> document a specific kind of transaction, take a particular physical
> form, or have some other relationship arising out of their creation,
> receipt, or use, such as restrictions on access and use.
>
> **[Recordkeeping System.]{.underline}** A system for collecting,
> organizing, and storing records to facilitate their preservation,
> retrieval, use, and disposition, and to fulfill recordkeeping
> requirements.
>
> **[Records.]{.underline}** According to 44 U.S.C. 3301, the term
> \"includes all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable
> materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form
> or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States
> Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of
> public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that
> agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization,
> functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other
> activities of the Government or because of the informational value of
> data in them. Library and museum material made or acquired and
> preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of
> documents preserved only for convenience of reference, and stocks of
> publications and of processed documents are not included.\" A more
> simple, working definition: Official Federal Government records
> include documentary material that you create, or that you receive from
> outside of AMS.
>
> **[Records Maintenance and Use.]{.underline}** Any action involving
> the location of Federal agency records or the storage, retrieval, and
> handling of records kept at office file locations by, or for, a
> Federal agency. This is the second stage of the records life cycle.
>
> **[Records Management.]{.underline}** The planning, controlling,
> directing, organizing, training, promoting, and other managerial
> activities involved with respect to records creation, records
> maintenance and use, and records disposition in order to achieve
> adequate and proper documentation of the policies and transactions of
> the Federal Government and effective and economical management of
> agency operations. \[36 CFR 1220.14\]
>
> **[Records Management Program.]{.underline}** A planned, coordinated
> set of policies, procedures, and activities needed to manage an
> agency\'s recorded information. Encompasses the creation, maintenance
> and use, and disposition of records, regardless of media. Essential
> elements include issuing up-to-date program directives, properly
> training those responsible for implementation, and carefully
> evaluating the results to ensure adequacy, effectiveness, and
> efficiency.
>
> **[Records Officer.]{.underline}** The person assigned responsibility
> by the agency head for overseeing an agency-wide records management
> program. A person assigned a Record Group.
>
> **[Records Schedule.]{.underline}** A document describing, providing
> instructions for, and approving the disposition of specified Federal
> records. It consists of one of the following:\
> \
> (a) An SF-115, Request for Records Disposition Authority, which the
> National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has approved to
> authorize the disposition of Federal records;
>
> \(b\) the General Records Schedules (GRS) issued by NARA; or
>
> \(c\) a printed agency manual or directive containing the records
> descriptions and disposition instructions approved by NARA on one or
> more SF-115\'s or issued by NARA in the GRS. \[36 CFR 1220.14\]
>
> **[Retention Period.]{.underline}**  The length of time that records
> are to be kept.
>
> **[Retirement.]{.underline}** The sending of inactive records to the
> Federal Records Center or to the National Archives, either for storage
> until time for disposal (destruction) for permanent retention.
>
> **[Rights-and-Interests Records.]{.underline}** Vital records
> essential to protecting the rights and interests of an organization
> and of the individuals directly affected by its activities.
>
> **[Screening.]{.underline}** Reviewing files to apply access
> restrictions. Examining files to identify and remove documents of
> short-term value, especially those eligible for immediate destruction.
> Also called weeding or purging.

[]{#S .anchor}**S    ** [Top](#A)

> **[Security Backup.]{.underline}** Copy of a record in any medium
> created to provide a means of ensuring retention and access in the
> event the original record is destroyed, inaccessible, or corrupted.
>
> **[Special Records.]{.underline}** Types of records maintained
> separately from textual/paper records because their physical form or
> characteristics require unusual care, and/or because they have
> nonstandard sizes. Includes electronic, audiovisual, microform,
> cartographic and remote-sensing imagery, architectural and
> engineering, printed, and card records.
>
> **[Standard Form 115, Request for Records Disposition
> Authority.]{.underline}** The form used by Federal agencies to obtain
> disposition authority from the National Archives and Records
> Administration for records which the General Records Schedules are
> inapplicable.
>
> **[Standard Form 135, Records Transmittal and Receipt.]{.underline}**
> The form to be submitted by Federal agencies before transferring
> records to a Federal Records Center. Sometimes referred to as \"shelf
> lists.\"
>
> **[Subject Files.]{.underline}** Records arranged and filed according
> to their general informational or subject content. Mainly letters and
> memorandums, but also forms, reports, and other material, all relating
> to program and administrative functions, not to specific cases.
>
> **[Subject-Numeric Filing System.]{.underline}** A subject
> classification system in which the main topics are arranged
> alphabetically and the subdivisions, i.e., secondary (second) and
> tertiary (third) are coded numerically. For example, \"Personnel 8\"
> might stand for \"Hours of Duty.\" This system may be modified by
> combining it with the mnemonic filing system so that, for example,
> \"Personnel 8\" would become \"PER 8.\"\
> \
> (a) [Primary Subjects]{.underline} are the prime or major subject
> designations that identify and describe groups of related records.\
> \
> (b) [Secondary Subjects]{.underline} are one or more related subjects
> that have been created or established by the division of a primary
> subject.
>
> **[System of Records.]{.underline}** System of Records is used to
> identify records that contain information covered under the Privacy
> Act.
>
> **[System Topup.]{.underline}** Copy of off-line storage media of
> software and data stored on direct access storage devices in a
> computer system, used to recreate a system and its data in case of
> unintentional loss of data or software.

[]{#T .anchor}**T    ** [Top](#A)**                 **

> **[Tertiary Subjects.]{.underline}**  One or more related subjects
> that have been created or established by the division of a secondary
> subject.** **
>
> **[Technical Reference Files.]{.underline}** Non-record copies of
> articles, periodicals, reports, studies, vendor catalogs, and similar
> materials that are needed for reference and information but are not
> properly part of the office\'s records.
>
> **[Temporary Records.]{.underline}** Any Federal record that the
> Archivist of the United States has determined to have insufficient
> value to warrant its preservation by the National Archives and Records
> Administration. \[36 CFR 1220.14\]
>
> **[Transmission and Receipt Data.]{.underline}**
>
> \(a\) [Transmission Data.]{.underline}  Information in E-mail systems
> regarding the identities of sender and addressee(s), and the date and
> time messages were sent.[\
> \
> ]{.underline}(b) [Receipt Data.]{.underline}  Information in E-mail
> systems regarding date and time of receipt of a message, and/or
> acknowledgement of receipt or access by addressee(s).
>
> **[Unscheduled Records.]{.underline}** Records for which no ultimate
> disposition has been determined.

[]{#V .anchor}**V    ** [Top](#A)

> **[Vital Records.]{.underline}** Records essential to the continued
> functioning or reconstitution of an organization during and after an
> emergency; also, those records essential to protecting the rights and
> interests of that organization and of the individuals directly
> affected by its activities. Sometimes called essential records.
> Include both emergency-operating and rights-and-interests records.
> Vital record considerations are part of an agency\'s records disaster
> prevention and recovery program.

[]{#W .anchor}**W    **[Top](#A)

> **[Washington National Records Center.]{.underline}** The Federal
> Records Center for the inactive permanent records (except those
> located in the National Archives) and temporary Federal records for
> offices located in the Washington metropolitan area.