Nonrecord materials are U.S. Government-owned documentary materials that do not meet the conditions of records status (see §1222.12(b)) or that are specifically excluded from the statutory definition of records (see 44 U.S.C. 3301). An agency's records management program also needs to include managing nonrecord materials. There are three specific categories of materials excluded from the statutory definition of records:

(a) Library and museum material (but only if such material is made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes), including physical exhibits, artifacts, and other material objects lacking evidential value.

(b) Extra copies of documents (but only if the sole reason such copies are preserved is for convenience of reference).

(c) Stocks of publications and of processed documents. Catalogs, trade journals, and other publications that are received from other Government agencies, commercial firms, or private institutions and that require no action and are not part of a case on which action is taken. (Stocks do not include serial or record sets of agency publications and processed documents, including annual reports, brochures, pamphlets, books, handbooks, posters and maps.)