documents

Refers especially to recorded information regardless of medium or characteristics, whether created specifically as records of information or used as such at some time subsequent to their creation. In its broadest sense, however, can include any item amenable to cataloging and indexing, that is, not only written and printed materials in paper or microform versions but also nonprint media and, in some circumstances, three-dimensional objects or realia. For the activity of gathering and recording information, see "documentation (function)."