set of documents produced or received, whatever their

date, format or storage media, by any individual,

organization, public or private service, in the course of their activity

ISO 14641-1:2012(en). Electronic archiving — Part 1: Specifications concerning the design and the operation of an information system for electronic information preservation,

ISO 14641:2018(en). Electronic document management — Design and operation of an information system for the preservation of electronic documents — Specifications

So the modern term has a variety of connotations within, and between, individual languages and cultures. These include:

- A building or part of a building where public records or historical documents are kept and arranged: a repository

- A receptacle or container in which physical documents are kept, such as a filing cabinet or box

- A digital location, such as a place in a computer directory, where computer documents are retained

- The records or documents themselves, which are assumed to be non-current and may relate to the activities, rights, claims etc. of a person, family, corporation, community, nation or other entity

- The agency or organization responsible for collecting and storing the documents

all types of documents kept in archives and libraries

regardless of their physical format, mainly books,

manuscripts, files, maps, graphic collections and other

documents consisting of paper, but also parchment,

papyrus, films, photographic materials, audiovisual

recordings, magnetic and optical media, as well as bindings and protective material

Audiovisual archiving [...] is a field which embraces all

aspects of the guardianship and retrieval of audiovisual

documents, the administration of the places in which they

are contained, and of the organizations responsible for

carrying out these functions.

Originally document applied to the written word – a

recording of information, evidence, creative or intellectual

activity. In the 20th century, especially in relation to the

audiovisual works, it has broadened to include the factual

presentation of real events, activity, people and places –

the documentary is a particular type of film, television or

radio programme. UNESCO’s Memory of the World

Programme recognizes that documents, including

audiovisual documents, have two components: the

information content and the carrier on which it resides.

An organized unit of documents grouped together either

for current use by the creator or in the process of archival

arrangement, because they relate to the same subject,

activity, or transaction. A file is usually the basic unit within

a record series.

The whole of the records, regardless of form or medium,

organically created and/or accumulated and used by a

particular person, family, or corporate body in the course of

that creator's activities and functions.

The smallest intellectually indivisible archival unit, e.g., a

letter, memorandum, report, photograph, sound recording

Record is a related term and can equally apply to any

medium or any format. As traditionally used in archival

science it has the sense of lasting evidence of transactions,

often in the form of unique original documents.

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

Documents arranged in accordance with a filing system or

maintained as a unit because they result from the same

accumulation or filing process, or the same activity; have a

particular form; or because of some other relationship

arising out of their creation, receipt, or use. A series is also

known as a records series.