Defines some of the more commonly used archival and recordkeeping terms.
For a complete list, see Archives New Zealand’s guide Glossary of Archives and
Recordkeeping Terms. 

Agency:
A body, business, organisation or institution that creates or manages its own records in the course of its business or activities. In the case of large organisations or institutions, subordinate parts such as departments, sections, units, regional or branch offices may be regarded as separate agencies.

Appraisal:
The process of evaluating records to determine which are to be retained as archives, which are to be kept for specific periods and which will be destroyed.

Class:
Classes of records performing or recording similar activities and therefore having the same retention period and disposal action (AS 4390.1-1996).

Disposal:
1. “The final decision concerning the fate of records, i.e. destruction or transfer to
archives. On rare occasions the disposal may be by sale or donation. 2. A programme of activities to facilitate the orderly transfer of intermediate and inactive records from current office space into low-cost or archival storage. It includes surveys, scheduling, and records destruction.”

Under the Public Records Act, “disposal, in relation to a public record or local authority record, means: the transfer of control of a record; or the sale, alteration, destruction, or discharge of a record.” (PRA, s4).

Schedule:
A systematic listing of records created by an organisation or agency which plans the life of these records from the time of their creation to their disposal. Records are identified by file classification, class, or function and may not yet exist. A disposal schedule lists:

• the classes or groups records created by the agency
• the retention period for each class; specifying when the records are to be destroyed or transferred to archives
• the disposal sentence for each class, specifying whether the records are to be retained as archives or destroyed.

Series:
Those records having the same provenance, which belong together because:

• they are of similar formats and/or relate to the same function
• they are part of a discernible filing or classification (alphabetical, numerical,chronological or a combination of these)
• they have been kept together because they perform or record similar activities.

Sub-series:
A logical sub-grouping of a series.