Editing Records management (section)

==Concepts of record==
The concept of '''record''' is variously defined. The [[ISO 15489 Information and documentation -- Records management|ISO 15489-1:2016]] defines ''records'' as "information created, received, and maintained as evidence and as an asset by an [[organization]] or [[person]], in pursuit of legal obligations or in the transaction of business".<ref name="ISO15489"/> While there are many purposes of and benefits to records management, as this definition highlights, a key feature of records is their ability to serve as evidence of an event. Proper records management can help preserve this feature of records.

Recent and comprehensive studies have defined records as "persistent representations of activities" as recorded or created by participants or observers.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Yeo|first1=Geoffrey|title=Concepts of Record (1): Evidence, Information, and Persistent Representations|journal=American Archivist|date=2007|volume=70|issue=2|pages=315–343|doi=10.17723/aarc.70.2.u327764v1036756q|ref=yeo2007}}</ref> This transactional view emphasizes the importance of context and process in the determination and meaning of records. In contrast, previous definitions have emphasized the evidential and informational properties of records.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schellenberg|first1=T. R.|title=The Appraisal of Modern Records|journal=Bulletins of the National Archives|number=8|date=October 1956|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/appraisal-of-records.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124094248/https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/archives-resources/appraisal-of-records.html|archive-date=2016-11-24}}</ref> In organizational contexts, records are materials created or received by an organization in the transaction of business, or in pursuit of or in compliance with legal obligations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.arma.org/standards/glossaryw2/index.cfm?id_term=369 |title=Glossary of Records and Information Management Terms, 3rd Edition |publisher=ARMA International |access-date=September 3, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927121231/https://archive.arma.org/standards/glossaryw2/index.cfm?id_term=369 |archive-date=September 27, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Pearce-Moses|first1=Richard|title=Record|url=http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/r/record|website=Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology|publisher=Society of American Archivists|access-date=23 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124094018/http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/r/record|archive-date=24 November 2016}}</ref> This organizational definition of record stems from the early theorization of archives as organic aggregations of records, that is "the written documents, drawings and printed matter, officially received or produced by an administrative body or one of its officials".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Muller|first1=S.|last2=Feith|first2=J. A.|last3=Fruin|first3=R|title=Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives (1898)|editor=Arthur H. Leavitt|date=1968|location=New York|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cook|first1=Terry|title=What Is Past Is Prologue: A History of Archival Ideas Since 1898, and the Future Paradigm Shift|journal=Archivaria|date=1997|volume=43|pages=17–63|url=http://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12175/13184|access-date=23 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124094926/http://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12175/13184|archive-date=24 November 2016}}</ref>