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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

access limitations affect the use of the records and thus the worth of the information they contain. To cite the most extreme example, the decision to retain permanently closed records is suspect.38 Boles and Young seem to forget that today's political restrictions on access may well become tomorrow's freedom of information. The North American tradition of insisting on the centrality of use as the ultimate arbiter of value has been recently challenged by several Canadian archivists, with the application of the principles of diplomatics to the appraisal process.39 Terry Cook, for example, develops these ideas in a manner reminiscent of Philip Brooks: Archivists must not get distracted initially by the physical form or schematic organization of the record, but rather look at the processes and functions behind records creation. In this first and most important phase of appraisal, they must understand why records were created rather than what they contain, how they were created and used by their original users rather than how they might be used in future, and what formal functions and mandates of the creator they supported rather than what physical characteristics they may or may not have.40 38 Ibid, 130. 39 The application of the theory of diplomatics to modern records has been developed in the following articles by Luciana Duranti: "Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old Science," Archivaria 28 (Summer 1989): 7-27; "Diplomatics . . . (Part II)," Archivaria 29 (Winter 1989-90): 4-17; "Diplomatics . . . (Part III), Archivaria 30 (Summer 1990): 4-20; "Diplomatics . . . (Part IV), Archivaria 31 (Winter 1990-91): 10-25. 40 Terry Cook, The Archival Appraisal of Records Containing Personal Information: A RAMP Study with Guidelines (UNESCO: Paris, forthcoming), 38. 107
Cook's emphasis on relating the processes and functions of administrative structures to the circumstances of creation supports the centrality of provenantial information in the selection process. Barbara Craig adds that appraisal must be rooted in the factual reality of the records: The reality of the record base is an indispensable component of all acts of appraisal. Without an understanding of documents and records, of their forms and of their functions and of how they were created and used, plans can easily be divorced from reality.41 Luciana Duranti adds, The relationship between the records and the actions from which they derive, as embedded in the records intellectual forms and in their forms of aggregation, which tend to be very repetitive, will enable us to identify which functions and activities generated them, and their relative significance. Record forma will guide us to meaning, context and value, and so will the processes and procedures, the functions and activities of records creators.42 Such thinking deflects archivists' perspective from the values of their own society to an understanding of the relative significance of the records in terms of the activities of the records creator. Another challenge to traditional approaches to appraisal 41 Barbara Craig, "The Acts of the Appraisers: The Plan, the Context and the Record: A Commentary on a Paper of Hans Booms," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Canadian Archivists, Banff, Alberta, 23-25 May 1991, (manuscript], 11. 42 Luciana Duranti, "ACA 1991 Conference Overview," ACA Bulletin (July 1991): 26. 108
Page 1 and 2:
A STUDY OF THE THEORY OF APPRAISAL
Page 3 and 4:
ABSTRACT Appraisal for selection is
Page 5 and 6:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I gratefully acknow
Page 7 and 8:
the troublesome question of the rel
Page 9 and 10:
principle of pertinence is commonly
Page 11 and 12:
problems such as the availability o
Page 13 and 14:
theoretical framework.^In this mann
Page 15 and 16:
CHAPTER 1: THE PROBATIVE NATURE OF
Page 17 and 18:
doctrine of stare decisis.3 The hie
Page 19 and 20:
The courts thus enter the realm of
Page 21 and 22:
the conduct of society, but to expl
Page 23 and 24:
lives."16 Because the present inesc
Page 25 and 26:
judiciary has developed a complex s
Page 27 and 28:
creation, is inherently reliable. 2
Page 29 and 30:
authority. "31^Public records can t
Page 31 and 32:
whole or any part of any book, docu
Page 33 and 34:
consist of all documentary records
Page 35 and 36:
issue. German archivists have been
Page 37 and 38:
information.2 It is, however, the F
Page 39 and 40:
Importance of historical value as a
Page 41 and 42:
intuitive ability to appraise recor
Page 43 and 44:
objectivity is irrelevant. Content
Page 45 and 46:
is supported by the many examples o
Page 47 and 48:
that documented important historica
Page 49 and 50:
ecords through a structural analysi
Page 51 and 52:
is, the political issue of extent a
Page 53 and 54:
appraisal. But, instead of rejectin
Page 55 and 56:
provide archivists with the necessa
Page 57 and 58:
theory of appraisal, which, in his
Page 59 and 60:
For it is the task of archivists in
Page 61 and 62: the European understanding of the n
Page 63 and 64: to appraisal theory, the following
Page 65 and 66: of the Rolls has been required 'fro
Page 67 and 68: Schedule."13 In 1889, rules regardi
Page 69 and 70: their legitimate successors.17 His
Page 71 and 72: the administrator.22 Their meaning
Page 73 and 74: the connexion in which they were or
Page 75 and 76: fears, archivists and historians wh
Page 77 and 78: diminished from its previous absolu
Page 79 and 80: that had been used since the mid-ni
Page 81 and 82: preserved."52 Thus, the Report main
Page 83 and 84: series.59 The Report also notes tha
Page 85 and 86: The Grigg Report concludes its asse
Page 87 and 88: in the equation of historical value
Page 89 and 90: paradigms created by European theor
Page 91 and 92: seriously challenged since it was a
Page 93 and 94: the usefulness of existing resource
Page 95 and 96: CHAPTER 4: NORTH AMERICAN TRADITION
Page 97 and 98: ecords, from creation to dispositio
Page 99 and 100: possess it not as individual docume
Page 101 and 102: accomplished. As Hans Booms has cle
Page 103 and 104: and activities of the creating orga
Page 105 and 106: the next logical step: the identifi
Page 107 and 108: that they are needed for an underst
Page 109 and 110: archivists bring to research by the
Page 111: unarticulated."35 ^ In the American
Page 115 and 116: oader concept of information data s
Page 117 and 118: provenance. They also offer an inte
Page 119 and 120: content analysis as the primary met
Page 121 and 122: CONCLUSION After all is said and do
Page 123 and 124: the intervention of archivists in t
Page 125 and 126: ecords. The analysis seeks to ident
Page 127 and 128: according to an ideological underst
Page 129 and 130: previously, Hans Booms projects tha
Page 131 and 132: administrative and historical value
Page 133 and 134: BIBLIOGRAPHY Advisory Committee for
Page 135 and 136: Cook, Terry. "Improving our Disposi
Page 137 and 138: Haas, J. et al. Appraising the Reco
Page 139 and 140: Raffel, Stanley.^Matters of Fact: A
Page 141 and 142: GLOSSARY OF ARCHIVAL TERMS ACQUISIT
Page 143: PUBLIC RECORDS: Documents issued by
show all

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?