A real conundrum indeed.

Personally, I hate the word "permanent" (like someone else hates paper). 
Perhaps, we as M's or some our esteemed Archivists can come up with a word 
which means "for a long time" but does not have the connotation of 
forever.  Our EDRMS defines permanent as 999 years...certainly a long way 
from permanent.  We have some success in moving many of our permanent 
records to 75 years, once staff know they will be reviewed before 
destruction.

If these are minutes for a meeting they may need to be kept "permanently". 
 Our minutes for different board meetings are rated as permanent as they 
contain much of the history of the organization.  Obviously, the 
administrative value decreases as time goes on.  The fiscal value is 
captured in other locations and is not a key factor.

Anyways.....anybody have another word for permanent. 

John Annunziello
Manager, Records and Information 
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
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"Information is a corporate, strategic asset that needs to be managed"

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