| Advertisements | Public notices or paid announcements, especially those in print. For announcements paid for by an advertiser and broadcast on radio or television, use “commercials.” |
| Advertising cards | Cards distributed by merchants or manufacturers to advertise or promote their business or product, sometimes as premiums. For small printed sheets or cards bearing tradesmen's advertisements from the 17th through the 19th century, use “trade cards.” For cards made later, bearing the name and address of a business concern and the name of its representative, and intended more for information than for advertising, use “business cards.” For cards made later and issued primarily to be collected, with or without advertisements on them, use “collecting cards.” For cards intended to be posted as public advertisements, use “posters” or its narrower terms. |
| Agreements | Writing made to evidence the terms and conditions, or the fact, of an accord or arrangement. |
| Annotations | Notes added as comment or explanation, such as those accompanying an entry in a bibliography, reading list, or catalogue intended to describe, explain, or evaluate the publication referred to. |
| Announcements | Printed or published statements or notices that inform the reader of an event or other news. |
| Annual Reports | Documentation summarizing the activities of an organization over the course of a year. |
| Application forms | Forms used by persons requesting assistance, authorization, employment, admission, or other action. |
| Articles | Literary compositions prepared for publication as an independent portion of a magazine, newspaper, encyclopedia, or other work. |
| Artists' statements | Texts by artists, often brief, that state, for example, explanations of the artists' work or theoretical concepts on which their work is based |
| Ballots | Sheets of paper, cards, or other devices used to cast a vote or announce a slate of candidates. |
| Blank forms | Forms – which are formulary documents that arrange particular information in a prescribed sequence and format – that are created with blank spaces, lines, boxes, data entry fields, or other means to prompt users of the form to fill in the particular information. Blank forms may be handwritten, printed, typed, or online. When indexing, this term may be used for such forms whether or not they have been filled in by a user of the form. |
| Booklets | Small books consisting of a few sheets that are glued, stitched or stapled together between thin card or paper covers. |
| Broadsides (notices) | Sizeable single-sheet notices or advertisements printed on one or both sides, often chiefly textual rather than pictorial, and printed to be read unfolded. For primarily graphical content use Poster. |
| Brochures | Small printed works describing the features or amenities of a place, an organization, or other concern, generally intended as advertisement. |
| Bulletins | A serial publication issued by an organization or society, especially a short account, alert, or report of public news or events, issued by authority. [See also Newsletters.] |
| Business cards | Small cards produced since the 19th century bearing the name and address of a business concern and one of its representatives, and intended more for information than advertisement. For small printed sheets or cards bearing tradesmen's advertisements from the 17th through the 19th century, use “trade cards.” For cards made later and distributed for advertisement, use “advertising cards.” |
| Catalogs | Enumerations of items, usually arranged systematically, with descriptive details; may be in book or pamphlet form, on cards, or online. [For early college catalogs, which often summarize activities of the prior year, see Annual Reports.] |
| Certificates | Documents giving authoritative recognition of a fact, qualification, or promise. |
| Checklists | Lists in which items can be compared, scheduled, verified, or identified. |
| Circular letters | Letters intended for circulation, either widely or throughout a particular group. |
| Circulars (fliers) | Printed pieces such as notices or advertisements, usually in the form of single sheets or leaflets, intended for wide distribution to the general public. For similar pieces intended for distribution by hand and often doubling as posters, use “handbills”. |
| Clippings (information artifacts) | Illustrations, pages, articles, or columns of text removed from books, newspapers, journals, or other printed sources. |
| Constitutions | Documents embodying the fundamental organic law of government of a nation, state, society, or other organized body; laying down fundamental rules and principles for the conduct of affairs. |
| Contracts | Documents, enforceable by law, embodying agreements between two or more competent parties to do or not to do something, and specifying the terms and conditions of the agreement. |
| Correspondence | Any forms of addressed and written communication sent and received, including letters, postcards, memorandums, notes, telegrams, or cables. |
| Coupons | Slips or sections of paper redeemable for specifically named articles, services, or funds and often attached as a group in book form or incorporated individually within larger printed matter. |
| Direct mail | Printed matter prepared to solicit trade or contributions and sent directly through the mail to individuals. |
| Drafts (documents) | Preliminary or tentative versions of documents. |
| Estimates | Rough or approximate calculations of cost or value, such as statements of price for which certain work will be done by one who is willing to undertake it. |
| Examinations (documents) | Written questions or exercises testing knowledge, aptitude, or skills. |
| Excerpts | Portions of a larger work, such as a literary work or motion picture, reproduced or excised without further change from their original context. |
| Extracts | Discrete bibliographical items which though once part of a larger whole (e.g., a periodical issue) have been disbound in order that may stand alone. Distinguished from “excerpts” and “offprints” which are printed separately, in that extracts were once physically part of a larger whole. |
| Faxes | Documents produced by facsimile transmission, which is a process by which fixed images are scanned, transmitted electronically, and reproduced at a distant location. |
| Financial records | Documents pertaining to money matters. |
| Financial statements | Reports summarizing the financial condition of an organization on any date or for any period. |
| Fliers (printed matter) | Printed pieces such as notices or advertisements intended for distribution by hand or by mail. For those intended for posting, use “posters.” |
| Form letters | Letters, memorandums, or postcards which are printed and stocked in advance of actual use and usually contain prepared spaces for insertion of information. |
| Forms (documents) | General term referring to formulary documents having an established arrangement of different parts and often a fixed order of words. Forms are used for acquiring particular information or for presenting particular information in a prescribed sequence and format. Forms may be handwritten, printed, typed, or online. Forms for acquiring information typically have titles for each type of data accompanied by blank spaces or lines, check boxes, pull-down lists, data entry fields, or other methods to prompt for the insertion of the requested information for each data type; they may also include instructions for how to fill out the form. Forms that present information do so in a standardized sequence and format, typically with a sequence of titles naming the types of data followed by the values of information related to that type of data. |
| Fragments (object portions) | Portions of something that are torn, broken off from, or dislocated from their original whole. |
| Galley proofs | First proofs printed from type, usually meaning those printed before it is made up into pages. [Earlier stage than “page proofs.”] |
| Greeting cards | Cards often imprinted with messages and suitable illustrations, sent or given on special occasions or holidays. |
| Handbills | Small printed sheets usually containing a notice or advertisement intended to be distributed by hand and often doubling as posters. For small printed sheets intended for wider distribution, to the general public, use “circulars.” For larger pieces, intended especially for posting, use “posters.” |
| Instructions (document genre) | Information in the form of outlines of procedures, as directions or commands. |
| Invitations | Engraved, printed, or written expressions soliciting or requesting a person's company at a certain time and place. |
| Invoices | Documents showing items supplied, together with the prices charged for each; also, itemized bills or accounts. |
| Leaflets (printed works) | Small printed works consisting of one sheet folded and not stitched or bound. For larger printed works, but generally of fewer than 80 pages, often with paper covers, use “pamphlets.” |
| Lecture notes | Notes made with reference to a lecture, both those from which the lecturer speaks, and those taken by people in attendance. |
| Letters of recommendation | Formal letters recommending a person as worthy or suitable or merely as introduction. |
| Line drawings (drawings) | Drawings in which forms are indicated primarily by lines, with few or no areas of continuous tone. |
| Lists (document genres) | Transcribed collections of numbers, names, or other text indicating tallies of concepts collocated for any particular purpose. |
| Logos | Devices that are specifically symbol- or picture based, designed for ready recognition to identify a product, company, or organization and sometimes used as trademarks. For those graphic images similarly used but more word- or letter-based, see “logotypes.” For devices in any form that specifically identify a person or object as belonging to a group or organization, sometimes denoting rank or office, see “insignia.” |
| Manifestoes | Formal written declarations, promulgated by a sovereign or by the executive authority of a state or nation, such as to proclaim its reasons and motives for declaring a war, or other international action; also public declarations or proclamations of political, social, artistic, or other principles. |
| Manuscripts (document genre) | Handwritten documents, particularly books and other documents created before the invention of the printing press. May also be used to distinguish certain documents from published or otherwise printed documents, as in the cases of typed personal letters or a typescript from which printed versions are made. |
| Membership cards | Cards issued to individual members of an organization attesting to the fact of their membership, typically wallet-sized and carrying the name of the member and the name or logo of the organization. |
| Membership lists | Lists or rolls of the collective body of members, as of a society, at a given time. |
| Memorandums | Documents recording information used for internal communication. [Memorandums fall under the Correspondence hierarchy and can follow a letter format for encoding]. |
| Minutes | Records of what was said and done at meetings or conferences. |
| Monthlies (publications) | Periodical publications issued once per month. |
| Newsletters | Letters, reports, or other brief written communications that communicate news, particularly those written by societies or business organizations. Historically referred to serial publications consisting of one or a few printed sheets containing news and information of interest to the general public or to a special group. [See also Bulletins.] |
| Notes | Brief statements of a fact or experience, written down for review, or as an aid to memory, or to inform someone else; also includes short, informal letters. |
| Order forms | Preformatted forms on which a consumer may indicate a required product or service. This form is subsequently consulted by the supplier of the product or service. |
| Outlines (documents) | General descriptions covering the main points of a subject, such as summaries of written works or speeches expressed as headings and subheadings. |
| Page proofs | Proofs printed from matter that has been composed into pages, usually after galley corrections have been made but before plates are made. [Later stage than “galley proofs.”] |
| Pamphlets | Complete, nonperiodical printed works generally of fewer than 80 pages, often with a paper cover, sometimes short treatises on arguments or topics of current interest. For smaller printed works, of one sheet folded and not stitched or bound, use “leaflets.” |
| Papers (document genres) | Brief written compositions, as for example on scientific or historical topics, especially those to be read at a public meeting |
| Petitions | Includes any written requests and lists of signatures submitted to an authority to appeal for the performance of specific action. |
| Photographic postcards | Postcards that have on one side an image produced with light-sensitive materials directly on the card. |
| Photographs | Still images generally created by means of the chemical action of light on a sensitive film, paper, glass, or metal. Photographs may be positive or negative, opaque or transparent. |
| Picture postcards | Postcards having a pictorial image on one side. |
| Postcards | Cards on which a message may be written or printed for mailing without an envelope, usually at a lower rate than that for letters in envelopes. |
| Posters | Notices intended to be posted to advertise, promote, or publicize an activity, cause, product, or service; also, decorative, mass-produced prints intended for hanging. For small printed notices or advertisements intended for distribution by hand, use “handbills.” |
| Preliminary sketches (sketches) | Aids to the initial visualization of a design, especially, but not limited to, drawings. Less finished than “preliminary drawings” or “preparatory drawings.” |
| Press releases | Official or authoritative statements distributed to the press typically by a public relations firm or government agency. For packets of promotional material distributed to the press, use “press kits.” |
| Proceedings | Records of meetings of a society or other organization, usually published, and frequently accompanied by abstracts or reports of papers presented. |
| Programs (documents) | Brief outlines or explanations of the order to be pursued, criteria for participation, or the subjects embraced in a given event or endeavor. Includes lists of the features composing a dramatic or other performance, with the names of participants. |
| Promissory notes | Unconditional written promises to pay on demand, or at a fixed or determined future time, a certain sum of money to, or to the order of, a specified person or to the bearer. |
| Proposals | Includes offers by one person or organization to another of terms and conditions with reference to some work or undertaking and plans or schemes put forward for consideration, discussion, or adoption. |
| Questionnaires | Documents containing a set of questions for submission to a number of persons in order to obtain statistically useful information. Use “surveys” for documentation of inspections conducted to achieve a comprehensive view. |
| Receipts (financial records) | Written acknowledgment of the receiving or taking of goods or money delivered or paid. |
| Reply cards | Cards or papers intended to be returned to the sender of the document with information appended from a recipient, used variously regarding subscriptions, appointments, invitations, or surveys. |
| Reports | Documents containing presentations of facts or the record of some proceeding, investigation, or event. |
| Research notes | In any field, notes made in the course of creative, scholarly, or scientific inquiry. |
| Resolutions (administrative records) | Formal expressions of the opinion formed by some superior authority on matters referred to its decision and forwarded to inferior authorities for their instruction and government. |
| Royalty statements | Use to describe financial statements outlining royalties to be paid to an artist, writer, musician, or other creator, based on profits made by a publisher from reproduced or copyrighted works. |
| Rules (instructions) | Authoritative instructions for conduct, especially those governing procedure in a legislative body or in a game, sport, or contest. |
| Rules of procedure | Rules made by a legislative body concerning the mode and manner of conducting its business and for the purpose of making an orderly and proper disposition of the matters before it. |
| Sales records | Documents that serve as the evidence or record of cash and credit sales, including sales orders, tickets, slips, invoices, journals and summaries, and customers' ledgers. |
| Schedules (time plans) | Plans of procedure, showing the sequence of items or operations and the time allotted for each. |
| Speeches | Documents containing the text of any public address or talk. |
| Syllabi | Outlines or brief statements of the main points of a lecture or course of study. |
| Supplements | Complementary parts or sections added to documents to give further information, update information, or correct errors. Includes separate sections devoted to special subjects inserted into newspapers or periodicals. Supplements may be issued with the text or separately. |
| Telex printouts | Physical manifestations of messages sent via telex transmissions, printed by teleprinters that recieve messages via public telecommunication lines. |
| Testimonials | Documents containing affirmation of person's character or the value of a thing. Specifically, written declarations stating an individual's achievements or the usefulness of a product or service, such as a letter of endorsement. [As opposed to Testimonies.] |
| Testimonies | Solemn declarations, usually made orally by a witness under oath in response to interrogation by a lawyer or authorized public official, reduced to writing. [As opposed to Testimonials.] |
| Tickets | Slips of paper or cardboard serving as evidence that the holder has paid a fare or admission or is entitled to some service. |
| Transcripts | Use both for copies transcribed from an original text or document and also for written records of words originally spoken, such as of court proceedings, broadcasts, or oral histories. |
| Visiting cards | Small cards bearing the name, and sometimes the address of a person or married couple for presentation, as when formally calling or visiting. |
| Warranties | Guarantees with reference to goods offered for sale which assure that a breach may be answered by a claim for damages. |
| Weeklies (publications) | Periodicals or newspapers published once a week. |