If you file the drafts with the other records of the matter they are 
records, for archival science as well as for the law of 
evidence.  Being a record has nothing to do with the importance or 
value of the content.  There are temporary records that only need to 
be retained for a week or even less.  A document is a record if it is 
made or received in the course of activity, business, affairs 
(depending on whether you are an individual, an organization, or 
else) and for the purposes of such activity, and kept for action or 
reference (it does not matter for how long, as the action for which 
it is kept may occur and be completed within a very short 
term).  Appraisal decisions do not make a record.  The reason why a 
document is created and kept, and the documentary context in which it 
is kept make a record.  Again, what makes of a document a record is 
its network of relationships with other records and with the 
activities in which it participates.  At the end of the day, it is 
all in the context.  In fact, the same document is 5 different 
records if filed in 5 different contexts.

Luciana

At 10:17 AM 14/05/2009, you wrote:
>John & List,
>
>John wrote:
>
>
>Lee has made a good point.  However, if I am writing a report and it is
>in
>draft form.  I have four or five drafts each changing and each
>containing
>points to further clarify the situation.  Finally after many changes,
>the
>report is approved.  Many would suggest that the drafts are all
>documents,
>while the final report is the record.  But if I want to keep the drafts
>because they clarify how I got to a decision, do those drafts remain a
>document. Or are they just as important, containing content, context and
>
>structure. Do the drafts become a record because they are pointers to
>the
>decision making process in the final copy.
>
>Some food for thought....
>
>So, my reply is:
>
>The various drafts would be documents and ALL of the documents would
>become the record, right? "
>
>Steven D. Morgan
>Records Manager, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons
>Costa Mesa, CA
>714.438.3228 Phone
>714.546.9835 Fax
>Information is the currency of democracy. (Thomas Jefferson)
>
>List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
>Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
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>mailto:[log in to unmask]

Dr. Luciana Duranti
Chair and Professor, Archival Studies
Director, The InterPARES Project www.interpares.org
Director, Digital Records Forensics Project www.digitalrecordsforensics.org
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies www.slais.ubc.ca
The University of British Columbia
The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
Suite 470, 1961 East Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia  V6T 1Z1 CANADA
Tel: 604.822.2587
Fax: 604.822.6006
www.lucianaduranti.ca

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