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

that they are needed for an understanding of that functioning."24
In the same way in which the identification of evidential
value is dependent on a precise analysis of administrative
context, the identification of informational value relies on a
content analysis that is derived from an understanding of
research resources, needs and methods. Because the focus of
analysis is on the use of incidental information, Schellenberg
concludes that "Informational values can therefore be appraised
piecemeal, for the records are judged solely on the basis of
their content and not on their relation to other records produced
by an agency."25 Schellenberg thus advocates a piecemeal
appraisal of records that deracinates information from the
context of creation. In so doing, he fails to recognize the
legal and historical need for the preservation of the probative
and archival nature of archives.
Schellenberg advocates three tests by which informational
value may be judged. The first two tests are uniqueness and
form, and are practical in nature: they identify records that are
in the most complete, usable and concentrated form available.
The third test is importance.26 With this final test, the
archivist enters "the realm of the imponderable" as found in the
present and future research world.27 In this manner, the test of
24 Ibid, 139-140.
25 Ibid, 148.
26 Schellenberg, "Appraisal," 63-67.
27 Ibid," 66.
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