Access Policy
The official statement defining which records are available for use under what conditions.

Accession Number
The unique number assigned to an accession.

Accession Record(s)
A case file containing all records associated with the legal and physical transfer of archival materials to the Salvation Army Archives (Archives) including, but not limited to, purchase agreements, appraisals, receipts, copyright information, correspondence, etc.

Accessioning
The process of accepting custody and establishing initial intellectual and physical control of documents transferred to the Archives.

Acid-free Paper
Acid-free papers are distinguished from papers that contain a residue of the acids used to break up wood fibers during manufacture. The residual acid continues to attack the paper fibers, making the paper brittle over time. Archival papers are typically made from alpha cellulose, are lignin free, and often contain an alkaline buffer to counter any trace of acids used in processing or environmental acids.

Acquisition
Archival materials to which The Salvation Army has legal title; the documented transfer of such title to the Salvation Army. Archival materials may be acquired through purchase, donation, transfer, or exchange.

Active Records
Records regularly used for the conduct of the current business of their creator.

Active Retention Period
The time period during which records are regularly used to conduct current business and should remain available for immediate retrieval.

Administrative Value
1) Length of time records are needed for program management, e.g., status and trend reporting, planning, etc., to support administrative consistency and continuity; 2) The usefulness of records for the conduct of current and/or future administrative business.

Appraisal
The process of identifying materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be accessioned (archival appraisal) or the process of determining the fair market value of an item (monetary appraisal).

Architectural Drawings
Drawings made for the design and construction (or documentation of design and construction) of sites, structures, details, fixtures, furnishings, and decorations, as well as other objects designed by an architect or architectural office.

Archival Quality
1) The material properties inherent in any documentary medium permitting its preservation under controlled conditions. 2) The whole of the characteristics of archival nature acquired by non-archival material when it becomes an integral. part of an Content Type.

Archival Records
Materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs that are preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator.

Archives
A repository for archival records. Also a collection of archival records (records of enduring value).

Archivist
A person professionally educated, trained, and engaged in the administration of archival materials.

Arrangement
The process of organizing materials with respect to their provenance and original order, to protect their context and to achieve physical or intellectual control over the materials.

Attribution
The assigning of authorship or creative origin to an object.

Audio Visual Records
see Moving images.

Biannual
Published twice a year.

Biennial
Published every two years.

Boolean Operators
Words (specifically AND, OR, and NOT) that may be used to join or arrange keywords in a search statement in order to narrow or expand the search.

Box List
A list of the folder titles housed in one or more containers.

Cartographic Record
Maps or scale drawings showing a portion of the linear surface of the earth or of a celestial body (such as maps, charts, plans and related materials including globes, atlases, topographic and hydrographic charts, cartograms and relief models, and aerial photographs).

Case Files
Files which document a fixed set of transactions executed across a defined population, generally using standardized forms to conduct and record those transactions. Each file contains the same kinds of records that result from the same set of activities. The files are differentiated from one another by the distinct cases they document.

Collection(s)
A grouping of records and/or artifacts with some unifying theme or characteristic; an accumulation of objects gathered together for a particular purpose.

Conservation
The physical care and maintenance of archival materials, including cleaning, storage and repair.

Content Type
A broad category of material, such as Monograph or Serial, which can be subdivided into more specific Record Types such as Book, Report, Directory, etc. Each Content Type can have its own query screen and search results screen, so that the fields appropriate for that Content Type can be searched and displayed.

Copy
At the Salvation Army Archives, we make a distinction between the terms copy and reproduction. The term copy refers to any photo mechanical process such as photocopiers, microprinters and microscanners.

Copyright
The right vested by law in the author of a work and his/her heirs or assignees to publish or reproduce the work or to authorize publication or reproduction of a work.

Corporate Body
An organization or association of persons that is identified by a particular name and that acts, or may act, as an entity. Typical examples of corporate bodies are societies, institutions, business firms, nonprofit enterprises, governments, government agencies, religious bodies, places of worship and conferences.

Current
In records scheduling, the current year, either fiscal, academic or calendar, which can trigger the beginning of the retention period. For example, Current + 3 years.

Custodian
An individual or organization having possession of, and responsibility for, the care and control of material.

Deaccession
The process of permanently removing archival material from the Archives. Deaccession includes formally reviewing, approving, and recording the removal of the work of art. Deaccession is followed by disposal.

Deed of Gift
A contract establishing conditions governing the transfer of title to donations and specifying any restrictions on access and use of the materials being donated.

Description
The process of analyzing, organizing, and recording details about the formal elements of a record or collection of records, such as creator, title, dates, extent, and contents, to facilitate the work's identification, management, and understanding.

Disposal
The appropriate disposal of archival material through a formal transfer of legal ownership to another owner or by deliberately destroying and/or discarding the materials.

Disposition Schedule
An inventory of document classes or record series, which summarizes the form, function, and content of the class; identifies the unit responsible for maintaining the record copy of each class; and determines when each document class is destroyed or archived, i.e., its retention period (also known as retention schedule).

Disposition
A range of processes associated with implementing records retention, destruction, and preservation decisions.

Document
A coherent set of data structured to present a line of reasoning or to report on an activity.

Donation
A voluntary transfer of property of value for which the donor expects and receives nothing in return. The term "gift" may be used interchangeably with "donation".

Electronic Records
Records in electronic form records that are encoded for manipulation by a computer.

Exchange
Trading of objects and their legal title.

Fair Market Value
The price at which a collection might reasonably be expected to change hands between a willing seller and a willing buyer dealing at arm's length.

Fair Use
A legal concept which invests a privilege in others than the copyright owner to use the copyrighted material without the owner's consent under certain conditions.

File or Item
The lowest level of description, including files of documents or individual documents that might come in a variety of forms and media. These might include: a letter, a film, a photograph, a map, a journal, an architectural plan.

Fiscal Value
1) Length of time records are needed to document the expenditure of funds or to fulfill financial obligations; 2) The worth of records for the conduct of current or future financial business and/or as evidence thereof.

Format:
The physical form in which material appears - books, slides, photographs, film, recordings, compact disc, etc.

Historical Research Records
Records and manuscripts acquired by the Salvation Army Archives which are primary source.

Historical Value
Records which document significant aspects of the Salvation Army's development; its mission, programs, significant events, personalities, societal relationships.

Holdings
A general term which refers to the entire inventory of archival records, of any medium, in the custody of the archival institution.

Inactive Records
Records no longer needed by their creator to conduct current business.

Inactive Retention Period
Length of time records are to be retained after their active retention period has ended, generally to satisfy external requirements.

Issue
All the copies of a specific periodical title published on the same date. A subscription entitles the subscriber to receive one copy of each issue.

Legal Value
1) Length of time records are needed as evidence of legal rights or obligations or to demonstrate compliance with legal and regulatory requirements; 2) The worth of records for the conduct of current or future legal business and/or as legal evidence thereof.

Listing
A list of files or items in a particular Record Type or series.

Loan Agreement
A contract establishing conditions governing the temporary transfer of materials from one institution or individual to another institution or individual.

Loans
Items that are provided to the Salvation Army for temporary exhibition or that are provided by the Salvation Army to other institutions for temporary exhibition.

Location Code
At the Salvation Army Archives, this is the unique code assigned to a file, item or box of records. This number is required to order the record for viewing.

Medium (Media)
The physical form of recorded information. Includes paper, film, magnetic tapes and disks, CDs, etc.

Monograph
A publication that appears one time only. Books or reports are monographs; periodicals or serials are not.

Moving Images
Visual images, with or without sound, which may present the illusion of motion when viewed. Also referred to as audio visual records.

Office of Origin
The corporate body or administrative unit in which a group of records are created or received in the conduct of its business.

Office of Record
The organizational unit responsible for maintaining the record copy.

Official Donation Receipt
A receipt issued by The Salvation Army to a donor for income tax purposes.

OPAC
Online Public Access Catalogue: the view of the catalogue that is seen by end users (ie everybody except administrators of the system and/or Library staff 

Operational Value
Length of time records are needed for day-to-day program operation.

Personal Papers
The private documents accumulated by or belonging to an individual.

Personal Records
Records created, acquired, or received by an individual in the course of their affairs or by Salvation Army related organizations or individuals. Examples may include correspondence, reports, research materials, minutes, photographs etc.

Preservation
Any effort to extend the lifespan of an object by improving the methods used to care for it. This includes safe handling, security, storage, and environmental conditions.

Processing
The activities of appraising, arranging, describing and preserving archival materials.

Project Files
Files which document a specific action, event or project. They have a clear beginning and end date.

Provenance
The organization or individual that created, accumulated, and/or maintained and used records in the conduct of business prior to their transfer to the Archives.

Public
Viewable by users of all OPACs (Library staff / system administrators can always see all fields). If a field is not public, end users will not even be aware of its existence.

Public Trust
The obligation of the Salvation Army to serve the general interests of the people at large, including the preservation of cultural resources for the long-term benefit of the public.

Record Type
A Record Type is a specific type of material, such as Book, Journal, etc, that is assigned under a broader Content Type such as Monograph. Each Record Type has its own edit screen, so that they can contain the appropriate fields for each Record Type.

Reading Room
The area in the Archives where archival materials are consulted by researchers under the supervision of and with the assistance of archivists.

Record Copy
Official copy of a document.

Record creator
The person, family, corporate or government body that created archival records.

Record Series
A group of records that are related as a result of being created, received, or used in the same activity or because they have the same form.

Record
Recorded information of any kind and in any form or media, either originated or received by the Salvation Army as part of the Salvation Army's business transactions.

Records Disposition Program
The systematic control of all records from their creation, or receipt, through their processing, distribution, organization, storage and retrieval to their ultimate disposition (also known as records management program).

Records Release
The document recording the transfer of records custody from the office of origin to the Archives.

Reference Copy
The copy of the document used primarily for consultation purposes (also known as convenience copy).

Reproduction
At the Salvation Army Archives, we make a distinction between the terms copy and reproduction. The term reproduction refers to the making of a duplicate image through a photographic process.

Retention Period
The length of time records should be kept to satisfy administrative, legal, fiscal, historical, or other purposes.

Screening
The examination of archival materials to determine the presence of documents or information subject to restricted access.

Sequence Number
This is used to reflect the order in which this copy will be displayed on the locations screen when multi-volumes are involved.  For example, if you have two volumes, Volume 1 would be Sequence 1 and Volume 2 would be Sequence 2. If a record has only one volume that the sequence number will always be 1

Serials
Also known as periodicals. A term that describes a wide range of publications that are issued in successive parts with no predictable end in sight. Periodicals, magazines, journals, newspapers, annual reports, series, some conference proceedings, and annual reviews are all examples of serials.

Series
A group of records which is organized as a unit and documents a specific activity or function. Within a fonds, there may be several distinguishable series of records.

Shelf Reference
By default Shelf reference is assigned as a globalisation field, although this can be changed. In any case, the Shelf Reference field has certain logic built in which enables the librarian to input the shelf reference just once into this field. When any copies are created the shelf reference will automatically be assigned to the copy if the library that the copy is being created in, providing that the library has Shelf Reference generation activated. If Shelf Reference has not been made globalisation then the shelf reference will be assigned to all copies where shelf reference generation is active.

Sound Recording
A document on which sound has been recorded and may be played back.

Still Image
Records documents in the form of pictures, photographs, illustrations, prints, and the products of other pictorial processes.

Sub Unit
Department or other division of an office, such as Human Resources, Finance, etc.

Subject Files
Files organized by topics containing documents concerning a wide variety of ongoing functions and activities.

Sub-series
Within a series of records, records may be arranged further into sub-series groupings. These might arise out of a particular classification or filing system.

Substantive Support Materials
Records that add to an understanding of the thought processes or intent of the activities, showing the process by which conclusions were drawn.

Table of contents
A list of the chapter or article titles in a book or journal. This is usually found at the beginning of a book after the title page. The University of Waikato Library online catalogue lists the table of contents for some recent books. The table of contents for a journal may sometimes be found on the cover (back or front) of each issue, inserted in one issue of the volume (but covering all issues of a volume) or issued separately. The online catalogue does NOT list the table of contents for journals. There are databases which do this however.

Term
A term describes an entry in a thesaurus and may comprise a single word or a combination of words.  

Textual record
Written records, whether handwritten, typescript, published, or generated by any other means, which are accessible to the eye without the aid of a machine.

Transfer
A form of donation in which one institution gives an object and its legal title to another institution.

Transitory Materials: Random notes, preliminary drafts, logistics documents that do not add significantly to an understanding of the activity to which they pertain.

URL
Universal Resource Locator used to denote a specific web page

Vital Records
Records necessary to resume operations in the event of disruption.

Volumes
Materials that are part of a single title but appear as separately bound items. When individual issues of a periodical are bound together into a single unit, this is called a "volume." (Usually, this equals one year of that periodical.) Also, large works such as encyclopedias are divided into volumes.

Weeding
The removal for the purposes of destruction of documents or files from a series. Also known as culling, purging, or stripping.

Work(s) of Art
Applied, decorative and fine art representing a wide variety of media and styles, including but not limited to paintings, sculptures, works created in new media, original prints and drawings, photographs, architectural drawings and models, products of the decorative and minor arts, and works of art that are part of the fabric of buildings, including stained glass windows in situ. Depending on the context, a work of art may be a single item or an integral unit made up of its component parts.