Ward, Welcome to the real world of the Records Manager. Defining the record is central to what we do, and we cannot do our job without understanding it because it underlies all of our decision making processes, modifies our understandings of schedules, and can conflict with policies at many levels if our professional judgement is in conflict with them. In some agencies,mostly public, the records are defined by law, and appraised by archivists who develop retention schedules which then must still be interpreted by records managers. The nuances and levels of understanding applied to interpretation frequently define a good records manager from a bad one, the risk the organization is exposed to, and down the line, litigation the agency may be involved in. In short, this is what we do, and I think we discuss it because we really need to have the best understanding we can of how to look at this central problem. A.S. Elizabeth Fairfax, MA,CA ACA Certified Archivist/Public Records Professional Island County Archives, Records and Information Management Program P.O. Box 5000 1 NE 7th Street Coupeville, WA 98239 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] Phone: 360-240-5569 Fax: 360-240-5553 -----Original Message----- From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ward Fennell Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 10:23 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [RM] Everything is a record until it is not Being new to this industry, I will not make many, if any, comments on records and information management, but one comment I feel compelled to make relevant to Ms. Burnett's latest comment List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message. mailto:[log in to unmask]