Governmental Transparency, Information Access, and Information Privacy

Governmental Transparency: The Value Of Government Data

Records are the organizational memory that underpins all agency efforts. In addition to effectiveness benefits, record keeping can save costs. Records are defined in the Federal Records Act as “all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of the data in them.”