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ARCHIVED - Management of Government Information Holdings (Review Guide) - November 11, 1995
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Appendix A: Glossary
The following list does not attempt to include all terms applicable to the management of information. The intent is to present a glossary of the most frequently used terms. Definitions taken from the MGIH policy are marked with an asterisk (*).
Alienation: The transfer of information holdings outside of the control of the Government of Canada.
Classification system: A logical and systematic arrangement of information holdings into subject groups or categories. The arrangement is based on schematic relationships among information. Numbers, letters or key words are used for identification.
Corporate memory: Information holdings which meet operational needs as well as the requirements of legislation and policy.
Government institution: Any department or ministry of state of the Government of Canada listed in the Financial Administration Act.
Grey literature: Documents distributed by their authors (individuals or organizational units) but not distributed through official government channels, e.g., Canada Communication Group (CCG), or departmental distribution services. Copies of grey literature are usually distributed in limited numbers.
Information collection: The planned gathering by or for an institution of any information (including personal information as defined in the Privacy Act) that is intended to be used for any government purpose. This definition includes, but is not restricted to, the collection of information for direct or indirect use in program planning, operation or policy development, or the provision of benefits, grants or services, whether that information is collected from persons (including employees of government institutions) businesses, institutions or other entities through surveys, interviews, reports, forms, questionnaires or any other formal or informal method.(*)
Some information collection is specifically exempt from selected requirements as they relate to government information collection and public opinion research.(*) This definition can be further clarified in the Management of Government Information Holdings (MGIH) policy. (Treasury Board Manual, Information Management, Chapter 2.)
Information holdings: All information under the control of a government institution, regardless of physical mode or medium in which such information may be stored. Without restricting the generality of the foregoing, this may include correspondence, memoranda, books, plans, maps, drawings, diagrams, pictorial or graphic works, photographs, films, microforms, sound recordings, videotapes, machine readable records, published material, and any other documentary material. Excluded from the definition are materials held by federal libraries which were not prepared or produced by or for the government.(*)
Information management: The coordinated management of both information holdings and investments in information technology.
Information needs: Those requirements for collecting data and creating information which are relevant and essential to the effective and efficient operation of a program or activity. Normally, they will derive from a statutory or other type of officially declared mandate (e.g. set out in Estimates).(*)
Information of historic or archival importance: Information which, in the opinion of the National Archivist, is of historic or archival importance and is to be transferred to the care and control of the Archivist in accordance with such agreements for the transfer of records as may be agreed on between the Archivist and a government institution.
Integration: The extent to which institutions have ensured that management of information holdings is included and coordinated as an integral part of the corporate management process.
Life cycle of information holdings: The stages of planning, collection, creation or receipt of information; its organization, retrieval, use, accessibility, and transmission; its storage, protection and retention; and, finally, its disposition through transfer to National Archives or National Library, or destruction.
Management framework: The framework of interrelated systems and practices adopted by management to achieve established objectives. The management framework includes built-in control systems that provide reasonable assurance to management that the specified objectives will be achieved.
Management of information holdings: Ensuring the planning, needs assessment, collection, creation, organization, maintenance and transmission of information which has quality, relevance, integrity, accessibility and currency, and includes its protection, retention, and proper disposal or archival preservation.(*)
Published material: An information product which has been created and edited for the purpose of distribution or sale. Material published by or for government institutions is deposited in federal library collections.(*)
Public opinion research: Any research that solicits the views of any segment of the public, including advertising research.(*)
Record: Any correspondence, memorandum, book, plan, map, drawing, diagram, pictorial or graphic work, photograph, film, microform, sound recording, videotape, machine readable records, and any other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics and any copy thereof. (National Archives of Canada Act.)
Thesaurus function: An arrangement of classification terms or identifiers
that can be used for indexing, searching and information retrieval. A
thesaurus function brings classification terms or identifiers together based
on logical relationships, e.g. synonymous words, related subject matters and
hierarchical relationships.