> INTRODUCTION

This Glossary has been prepared for use by the New Zealand public sector. It is intended to be a handy reference tool for records managers and staff, as well as for general staff who may be unfamiliar with some of the terms and concepts that are employed by the archives and recordkeeping professions. It can also be used to standardise terminology within organisations.

It is a companion to the Standards and other Continuum documents published by Archives New Zealand, and is not intended to function as a comprehensive, general glossary of archives or records management terms.

This Glossary draws on international sources of best practice, while ensuring that the terminology and usage reflect the New Zealand environment. In particular, it reflects the new recordkeeping environment created by the Public Records Act 2005.

Definitions that derive from published sources outside of Archives New Zealand are cited in parentheses. A list of citation abbreviations is available at the start of this document, and full bibliographic details are provided at the end. In particular, this glossary gives acknowledgement to Judith Ellis (ed.), Keeping Archives, 2nd Edition, 1993.

Italics are used throughout the glossary to denote terms that are defined as separate entries. Italics do not reflect an emphasis, or other significance, on our part or from their original context where they are quoted from other sources.