- "appraisal is a process usually conducted by members of the record-holding institution (often professional archivists) in which a body of records is examined to determine its value for that institution."
The process of identifying, selecting, and acquiring records, including appraisal methods and criteria.
Appraisal criteria: This topic explores the different factors that archivists consider when determining the value of records.
Appraisal policies and procedures: This topic covers the guidelines and methods used by archives to evaluate and select records for preservation.
Intellectual property rights: This topic focuses on the laws and regulations surrounding the ownership and use of records, including copyright and fair use.
Records retention schedules: This topic concerns the plans and schedules made by organizations about the lifespan of their records.
Records management: This topic examines the different strategies used by organizations to manage their records, including legal requirements, technology, and staffing.
Donor relations: This topic explores the different relationships that archivists form with donors, including negotiation, legal agreements, and ethical considerations.
Digitization: This topic is concerned with the preservation and access to digital records, including digitization strategies, metadata, and long-term storage.
Collection development: This topic involves the strategic planning and development of archival collections by archivists and curators.
Funding and budgeting: This topic focuses on the financial considerations and decisions made by archives when acquiring and preserving records.
Selection for exhibition: This topic concerns the selection process for identifying materials from archives to exhibit, including those that highlight themes, events, or specific moments in history.
Access and use restrictions: This topic explores the policies and procedures governing the use and access to archival materials, including confidential information, privacy, and copyright restrictions.
Appraisal decision-making: This topic examines the decision-making process pursued by archivists when selecting materials for preservation partnership.
Arrangement and description: This topic concerns the principles and strategies for organizing and describing archival collections, ensuring their accessibility and discovery.
Risk management: This topic explores strategies and solutions put in place by archives to mitigate risks like theft, fire, or other disasters.
Ethical considerations: This topic examines the ethical issues that arise when archivists acquire, preserve, and provide access to sensitive or controversial materials, like political documents or personal papers.
Disaster response: This topic involves planning and preparing for emergency situations such as natural disasters, like hurricanes or earthquakes, and how it affects archival collections.
Legal frameworks: This topic covers the legal frameworks concerning acquisition and preservation of archival collections in different countries and jurisdictions.
Conservation and Preservation: This topic covers the principles and strategies for conservation of archival collections, including preventative care, conservation treatments, and long-term preservation.
Accessioning: This topic is about the processing and documenting of acquisitions of new archival material to incorporate it into the collection.
Appraisal theory and practice: This topic is a critical examination of appraisal concepts, trends, and practices. It highlights how they relate to the creation and preservation of archives.
Donor appraisal: This is the process of determining if materials donated to an archives or repository meet the collection development policy, collecting scope, and content as defined by the archives.
Records survey: This is a method used for identifying and evaluating records of potential value to an archives through systematic investigation of an organization's records.
Financial appraisal: This involves scrutinizing the financial value of paper or digital records, such as stocks, bonds, receipts, and financial statements.
Legal appraisal: This is the assessment of documents based on their legal value or the extent to which they can be used to verify legal rights and obligations.
Administrative appraisal: This process consists of evaluating documents that have administrative value due to their role in documenting the decision-making process of an organization.
Research value appraisal: This is the assessment of records or documents based on their potential value to research, teaching, or public programs.
Intrinsic appraisal: This process is used to evaluate the intrinsic value of an object for reasons other than its legal or historical importance.
Provenance: This is the process of researching and evaluating the origin, ownership, creation, and management of a record or collection.
Content analysis: This is the systematic evaluation of the content of documents and records in order to determine their relevance to a collection or research topic.
Records disposition: This is the process of determining what documents should be kept permanently for legal or historical purposes, and what documents can be destroyed or disposed of.
Accretion: This is the process of adding new materials to an existing collection after careful evaluation for relevance and value.
Deaccessioning: This is the process of removing materials from a collection based on the criteria of the archives' collecting policy.
- "members of the record-holding institution (often professional archivists)"
- "to determine its value for that institution"
- "determining how long this value will last"
- "to determine the archival value of specific records"
- "When it occurs prior to acquisition, the appraisal process involves assessing records for inclusion in the archives."
- "appraisal 'represents a doorway into the archives through which all records must pass'"
- "how to meet the record-granting body's organizational needs" - "how to uphold requirements of organizational accountability (be they legal, institutional, or determined by archival ethics)" - "how to meet the expectations of the record-using community"
- "appraisal is still seen as a critical function of the modern archival profession"
- "historical societies contribute to the 'general randomness of collecting', which stands against rigorous appraisal standards"
- "many collecting programs still 'acquire the collections of private collectors'"
- "some aspects require partnerships between varied institutions"
- "in order to maintain cultural heritage for future generations"
- "can provide a legal record for those concerned about their human rights"
- No specific quote in the paragraph answers this question.
- No specific quote in the paragraph answers this question.
- "requirements of organizational accountability (be they legal, institutional, or determined by archival ethics)"
- "to determine the archival value of specific records"
- "how to meet the record-granting body's organizational needs"
- "how to meet the expectations of the record-using community"