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A record is recorded information kept because it provides evidence of an activity or has informational value. In U.S. federal records management, that definition covers information created or received by an agency while conducting public business, regardless of whether it is on paper, film, disk, or in a digital format. The word also has a separate music meaning: a sound recording, such as an LP. This article focuses on records management and explains the distinction.
What does “record” mean in records management?
The meaning depends on the organization and jurisdiction. For U.S. federal agencies, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) describes a record as information created or received in the course of agency business and preserved, or appropriate for preservation, because of its evidential or informational value. That is a federal definition, not a universal legal rule for every business, nonprofit, household, or government.
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The key is not the material an item is made of, but its connection to work and the value it has as evidence or information. A paper document and a digital file can both be records. NARA explicitly frames its federal definition as applying regardless of format in its Records Basics guidance.
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In a painting business or studio, a signed commission agreement, invoice, or correspondence about a project may document work and decisions. Those are practical examples, not a ruling that every such item has a particular retention requirement. Whether an item is a record, how long it should be kept, and how it should be managed depend on the organization’s context and applicable rules.
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What makes something a record rather than just an object?
Records-management terms describe information created, received, or maintained through an organization’s activities. A collection object, by contrast, is an item held as part of a collection. The two concepts can overlap: the Smithsonian Institution Archives explains that information about a collection item may itself be a record, even though the item is not thereby the same thing as an institutional record. This reflects the Smithsonian’s institutional practice, not necessarily every museum’s policy; see its explanation of what it calls a record.
For example, a painting held in a collection is an object; a loan form, acquisition file, or database entry documenting its handling or history may be an organizational record. The distinction helps separate what an organization owns or cares for from the information that documents its work.
Are digital files records?
They can be. The medium alone does not determine whether information is a record. NARA’s federal guidance includes electronic information, and the U.S. House of Representatives glossary describes an electronic record as data or information stored in a form a computer can read, display, or process. A spreadsheet, email, or database entry may therefore be a record when it meets the relevant organization’s definition and business context; not every file is automatically one.
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What happens to a record over time?
Records generally move through a lifecycle: they are created or received, maintained and used, evaluated under applicable schedules, and then either disposed of or preserved. NARA’s What’s a Record? overview describes these activities along with arrangement and description, preservation, and reference. Some records remain useful for a limited period and are destroyed when their scheduled retention ends; others are retained permanently. The House glossary’s description of disposition likewise includes options such as storage, transfer, destruction, or permanent retention.
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Retention schedules are important because keeping everything forever is not the same as managing records properly. Schedules guide how long records are kept and what happens when they are no longer current. The applicable schedule and legal requirements vary by organization and jurisdiction, so a federal agency’s schedule should not be assumed to govern a private studio or another country’s public records.
How many records are kept permanently?
NARA states that “1–3% of all records are kept permanently” on its federal records explainer page; the page does not state a year for that figure. It describes federal records, not the share that businesses, families, or other governments should expect to retain permanently. The percentage is a contextual illustration, not a general retention target.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does “record” also mean a music record?
Yes. In ordinary usage, “record” can mean a sound recording or the physical format that carries one. The U.S. Copyright Office defines a sound recording as a work created by fixing musical, spoken, or other sounds. It distinguishes copyright in the recording from copyright in the underlying work and lists an LP vinyl disc, cassette tape, and compact disc as possible phonorecords in its definitions.
The Library of Congress discusses vinyl, tapes, cylinders, and digital audio among sound-recording formats in its National Recording Preservation Plan quick reference. That is a different meaning from a record in archives or records management: an LP may be a phonorecord, while the paperwork documenting a purchase or cataloging decision may be an organizational record.
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