Dear Natasha: 

To a farmer may not be important whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, but to a records manager it is very important whether a backup is one record, contains records, or is a security function product whose content may become records when treated as such. If one backup is one record, we need to preserve every backup produced (perhaps several per day) for as long as the records system that is backed-up is supposed to exist. If a backup contains records, those "records" need to be kept in each and every backup made of the same records for as long as the "original" records are scheduled to exist and only for as long (thousands of backups). If the backup is a product of another function (e.g. security), it can be destroyed on a rotational basis every two or three backups. 

Yes, you should not care for backups as a records manager as they are not records. Your IT department must take care of them.

It seems to me that you are looking for rules, like those espoused by standards, rather than for principles. Rules are rigid. Principles are flexible, and in different contexts their application gives different outcomes. So, if your Russian law says that backups are records, they become your business and you have to care for them in the way I explained above. I certainly hope that you do not have such a law.

Luciana

Dr. Luciana Duranti 
Professor, Archival Studies
School of Library, Archival, and  Information Studies
The University of British Columbia | The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
470-1961 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
Phone 604 822 2587 | Fax 604 822 6006
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Director I Centre for the International Study of Contemporary Records and Archives
www.ciscra.org
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-----Original Message-----

Our difference of views looks a bit like an old dispute about whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable. A farmer doesn’t really care (unless it impacts taxation), because tomatoes need the same care regardless. This may look silly to a botanist, of course :)

For me, recordness is tightly connected with discipline. As a records manager, I don’t care for non-records. If something needs care, protection, control, retention (however short-term), documented disposition, discovery and disclosure - it’s a record for me and for my organization. In that sense, I don’t differentiate records and evidence (let the legal counsel do it!).

We might be both right from our personal perspectives. Quantum theory may be of tremendous value in the domain of modern electronics, but quite unhelpful for an architect who is relying on good old Newton’s laws :)

With my best regards,
Natasha

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