What is a "document"?

Loosjes (1962, pp. 1-8) explained documentation in historical terms: Systematic access to written texts, he wrote, became more difficult after the invention of printing resulted in the proliferation of texts; scholars were increasingly obliged to delegate tasks to specialists; assembling and maintaining collections was the field of librarianship; bibliography was concerned with the descriptions of documents; the delegated task of creating access for scholars to the topical contents of documents, especially of parts within printed documents and without limitation to particular collections, was documentation.

Object --- Document? Star in sky -- No

Photo of star -- Yes Stone in river -- No Stone in museum -- Yes Animal in wild -- No Animal in zoo -- Yes