1. APPRAISAL At Timothy Knapp House Archives Rye Historical Society
Friday, May 9, 2008
Archivists of Religious Institutions and Lower Hudson Conference
Presenter: Sharon A. Pullen, C.A.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Acquisition Priorities Strategy Method
Established by Appraisal guidelines
Affected by cost analysis
Strategy
Internal organizational culture
Documentation goals
Method
Internal acquisitions only
Donations accepted
Funding/budget for purchase

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Moving Theory into Practice
Appraisal Specifics
Moving Theory
into
Practice

11. Archival Value – Classic Theory
Evidential
Documents origins
Documents programs
Informational
Persons
Things
Events

12. Further Developments of Values
Operating
Administrative
Fiscal
Legal
Archival

13. 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.
Notes
Intrinsic value may include an item's form, layout, materials, or process. It may also be based on an item's direct relationship to a significant person, activity, event, organization, or place. Intrinsic value is independent of informational or evidential value. A record may have great intrinsic value without significant informational or evidential value; records with significant informational or evidential value may have little intrinsic value. The process of copying a document may sufficiently capture its informational or evidential value but fail to preserve some aspects of the material nature of the original – its intrinsic value – that merit preservation. Hence, documents with significant intrinsic value are often preserved in their original form.
For example, a document written by a famous individual, such as a signature on a scrap of paper, may tell us little about the person. However, the document may have intrinsic value if it is the only surviving specimen of a document written by the individual. The document may have intrinsic value if it is made using a process of historical interest, such as inks made from flowers.

14. 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

15. Taking the Mystery Out of Appraisal

16. 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.
Boles & Youngs article can be found in American Archivist 48 (Spring 1985), p. 121–140.

17. 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

18. Archival Sampling

19. 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.

20. 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

21. Sampling Techniques Probability or statistical sampling
Random
Systematic
Purposive or judgmental sampling
Exemplary
Exceptional

22. Functional Analysis

23. 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.
Because it is institutionally based, functional analysis implicitly shuns any prioritization among similar institutions, and suggests that there is a universal and objective set of records which comprise 'adequate' documentation of each and every example of a particular type of institution

24. Helen W. Samuels’ six-step model
Translate functions to specific institution
Draft documentary goals
Apply a functional understanding to the preparation of administrative histories of units
Evaluate documentation already in archival care and that still housed in offices
Assess resources available to preserve documentation
Confirm documentary goals and the proposed process to achieve them
Helen W Samuels, Retired - Varsity Letters: Documenting Modern Colleges and Universities Appraising the Records of Modern Science and Technology: A Guide
Helen W. Samuels was Institute Archivist and Head of Special Collections in the MIT Libraries from 1977 through and previously worked as both an archivist and a librarian. Her publications focus on the documentation of science and technology and the methods, such as documentation strategies, that can be used to improve the record of modern society. She is a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists.
Helen W Samuels
Retired Mailing Address: 5336 S University Ave #1 Chicago , IL USA
Phone: (773) Membership Type: Individual

25. More Product, Less Process

26. The Minnesota Method Greene & 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.

27. The Minnesota Method Greene & 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

28. The Minnesota Method Greene & 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

29. 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

30. Greene’s caveats Utilitarian approach is not perfect
Practicality and broad applicability depend upon an increasing number of use studies
Not a “magic bullet”

31. Approaches Outside the USA

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. Which approach? Depends on Size of institution Type of institution
Archives Budget
Staff size
Any existing policies or guidelines
Organizational politics
Access and Use

37. 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

38. Archival Appraisal Richard J. Cox
“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 --” 
Course rationale from Spring 2006 at University of Pittsburgh