Federal record

A federal record is "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, as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of data in them.”