APPRAISAL

AtTimothy Knapp House Archives

Rye Historical Society Friday, May 9, 2008

Archivists of Religious Institutions and Lower Hudson Conference

Presenter: Sharon A. Pullen, C.A.

Appraisal – what is it?

The process of identifying materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be accessioned.

The process of determining the length of time records should be retained, based on legal requirements and on their current and potential usefulness.

The process of determining the market value of an item; monetary appraisal.

What is Archival Appraisal ?

In an archival context, appraisal is the process of determining whether records and other materials have permanent (archival) value.

May be done at the collection, creator, series, file, or item level.

Can take place prior to donation and prior to physical transfer, at or after accessioning.

How is Archival Appraisal Different?

Appraisal is distinguished from monetary appraisal, which estimates fair market value.

Appraisal is distinguished from evaluation, which is typically used by records managers to indicate a preliminary assessment of value based on existing retention schedules.

Appraisal often takes place within a larger institutional collecting policy and mission statement.

Some Bases of Appraisal Decisions

Records' provenance and content, Authenticity and reliability, Order and completeness, Condition and costs to preserve them, Intrinsic value. Institutional acquisition/collecting policy and

mission statement.

Acquisition

Priorities– Established by Appraisal guidelines– Affected by cost analysis

Strategy– Internal organizational culture– Documentation goals

Method– Internal acquisitions only– Donations accepted– Funding/budget for purchase

ELEMENTS OF AN ACQUISITION POLICY

Statement outlining the legal authorization establishing the archival program

Statement outlining the general role and mission of the archives

Statement outlining acquisition responsibility for – records of the sponsoring body – records related to the functions of the sponsoring

body – records generated from other sources

Definition of terms

Common Elements of the Appraisal Process

Clearly defined mission statement Collection strategy Research about creator Analysis of current holdings Cost analysis

– Staff– Storage– Preservation

Establish collection priorities

Acquisition & Appraisal: The Chicken or the Egg?

Acquisition without established appraisal guidelines– Accumulation, not collection– Virtually impossible to arrange

Appraisal without acquisition/collection policy– General - unrelated to individual repository– Pointless - everything is valuable to somebody

Appraisal Specifics

Moving Theory

into

Practice

Archival Value – Classic Theory

Evidential– Documents origins– Documents programs

•Informational– Persons

–Things

– Events

Further Developments of Values

OperatingAdministrative FiscalLegalArchival

Intrinsic Value

The usefulness or significance of an item derived from its physical or associational qualities, inherent in its original form and generally independent of its content, that are integral to its material nature and would be lost in reproduction.

Intrinsic Value - continued

Records possessing qualities that make disposal undesirable even if an adequate copy exists – have intrinsic value

Records that can be destroyed if an adequate copy were made – do not have an intrinsic value in the archival sense

Taking the Mystery Out of Appraisal

Appraisal as a “Black Box”

“Black Box” is a conceptual model used to simplify the representation of a process by indicating only the inputs and outputs of a device without regard to its internal functions or mechanisms.

In archives, the term usually refers to Frank Boles' and Julia Marks Young's article, "Exploring the Black Box: The Appraisal of University Administrative Records," In which they argue that for too long the actual process of archival appraisal decisions was implicitly viewed as an impenetrable mystery.

Boles and Young defined specific elements that should go into making an appraisal, and argued that these could be refined to a mathematical model.

The “Black Box” – Boles & Young

Value of Information– Circumstances of Creation– Analysis of Content– Use of Records

Cost of Retention– Storage – Processing – Preservation– Reference

Implications of Appraisal Recommendation– Political– Procedural

Archival Sampling

What is Sampling?

The process of selecting items from a collection to stand for the collection as a whole

In appraisal, sampling may be used to select a representative portion of records for preservation from a large series that will not be preserved in its entirety.

Sampling

Works best when the Record Series is homogenous

Viable option for series that:– Some research value, but not enough to justify

retention of the whole– Too large a volume to store hard copy– Prohibitively high cost to reformat whole series

Sampling Techniques

Probability or statistical sampling– Random– Systematic

Purposive or judgmental sampling– Exemplary– Exceptional

Functional Analysis

Functional Analysis - Definition

A technique that sets priorities for appraising and processing materials of an office based on the relative importance of the functions the office performs in an organization.

Argues that records be appraised only after the functions of an institution are defined and understood. Record appraisal then becomes a matter of identifying or creating records which best document the institution's functions.

Helen W. Samuels’ six-step model

1. Translate functions to specific institution2. Draft documentary goals3. Apply a functional understanding to the

preparation of administrative histories of units4. Evaluate documentation already in archival

care and that still housed in offices5. Assess resources available to preserve

documentation6. Confirm documentary goals and the proposed

process to achieve them

More Product, Less Process

The Minnesota MethodGreene & Daniels-Howell

Define the institution’s mission and goals Analyze its extant holdings Survey the broader documentary universe,

receiving input and advice from outside the repository

Define a set of criteria for organizing and prioritizing records creators into broad groups. These criteria should be based upon the repository’s particular mission, resources and clientele.

The Minnesota MethodGreene & Daniels-Howell (continued)

Establish a range of documentation levels to permit flexibility in accepting collections from creators of different priority status

Define, if necessary, further criteria (“decision points”) for refining the prioritization of records creators

Link the priority group levels, the decision points, and the documentation levels

The Minnesota MethodGreene & Daniels-Howell (finish)

Use this framework to guide acquisition and appraisal decisions

Revise the framework over time to reflect the evolution of the repository’s mission and goals, the success of past acquisitions, and economic considerations

Use as a Primary Appraisal Criteria

Is pragmatic rather than theoretically-based More user-centered than other methods Analyzes series volume to use statistics Requires use data to be collected Can favor majority populations Deals only with current and/or past user

needs

Greene’s caveats

Utilitarian approach is not perfect Practicality and broad applicability depend

upon an increasing number of use studies Not a “magic bullet”

Approaches Outside the USA

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

United Kingdom– Derived from Sir Hilary Jenkinson– Fundamental difference in definition of “archival”

Canada– Total Archives

Responsibility for both public and private archives

– Macro-appraisal Planned, research-based, top-down, functions-centered

approach centered on the citizen’s interaction with the state

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

Australia– Records Continuum– No distinction between records manager and

archivist, rather the recordkeeping profession– Embraces the view that records function

simultaneously as organizational and collective memory from the time of their creation

Life Cycle vs Continuum

Clearly definable stage in recordkeeping

Records serve “organizational memory” early in their life and “collective memory” later

Different professionals (records managers and archivists) responsible for different parts of the life cycle

•No clearly definable stages in recordkeeping

•Records are both “current” and “historical” from the moment of creation

•No separation of responsibility among professionals

How does all this affect you?

Awareness of international practices can aid you with your own appraisal, even though some principles vary

Knowing various approaches to appraisal, you can more easily decide which will fit your institution

Reference to underlying theory will support your decisions within your organization

Which approach?

Depends on– Size of institution– Type of institution– Archives Budget– Staff size– Any existing policies or guidelines– Organizational politics– Access and Use

Best Practice

Consolidated Mission Statement including:– Acquisition policy – Appraisal framework

Uniform application of policies– Informed staff– Always exceptions

Clearly defined authority– Responsibility for final decisions– Documentation

“Archival appraisal is the most critical task of the archivist. The archivist’s process in determining continuing value affects all other archival functions, as well as makes an impact on individual, organizational, and societal memory. Since this is one of the most important responsibilities of the archivist, anyone intending to work as an archivist must be knowledgeable about appraisal.

Archival appraisal, and the techniques and models that have developed to support this function, also represents one of the unique contributions of the archivist to the information professions --” 

                                       

Archival Appraisal Richard J. Cox