A STUDY OF THE THEORY OF APPRAISAL FOR SELECTION By ...

Schellenberg then proceeds to define informational value as
the value that is derived from "information that is in public
records on persons, places, subjects and the like with which
public agencies deal; not from the information that is in such
records on the public agencies themselves."22 Such information
is primarily found in the large series of modern government
records such as vital records, citizenship records, land records
and case files. Schellenberg identifies these records as being
useful in the research of broad social questions, which can
contribute to an understanding of historical causation and
historical movements, such as the westward expansion of the
United States.23
The problem with the concept is that Schellenberg limits
informational value to information that is incidental to the
substantive functions of the organization. He does not consider
the nature of archives, in which the meaning of information in
records is interrelated by the very act of creation and natural
accumulation. At some level, however, Schellenberg understands
the confluence of primary and secondary value. He notes that
records that contain evidence of the mandate, functions, and
activities of an organization have value for the creator "to the
extent that they are needed for the current or future functioning
of his agency; they have value for the archivist to the extent
22 ibid, 148.
23 'bid, 150-151.
101