eligibleremains

Eligibleremains is a term used in information governance and archiving to denote the subset of records or artifacts that have cleared predefined criteria for retention and long-term preservation. The word is a portmanteau of eligible and remains, intended to identify items that remain in scope after eligibility evaluation and are considered viable for preservation.

Origin and usage. The term is not part of formal standards but has appeared in policy drafts, workflow documentation, and professional discussions in the 2020s. It is used as an informal label to distinguish items that should be kept from those that should be discarded or otherwise disposed of after initial screening.

Criteria and scope. Eligibility criteria for eligibleremains commonly include legal or regulatory retention requirements, metadata completeness, data integrity, and the ability to preserve the content in a usable form. Privacy and access considerations may also influence eligibility, with requirements for anonymization, access controls, or consent where appropriate. The concept helps teams streamline archival workflows by clearly marking which items are earmarked for ongoing preservation.

Processes and governance. In practice, identifying eligibleremains involves a review process as part of archived data management, records management, or digital preservation programs. Once an item is deemed eligible remains, it may proceed to preservation actions such as metadata enhancement, format migration, and controlled access arrangements. The term remains informal and may vary in definition across institutions, underscoring the need for explicit criteria within organizational policies.

See also: records retention, digital preservation, archival workflow, data governance, privacy compliance.