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

standpoint, and is not simply presenting 'empirical' criteria for
the sake of expedience.
Hans Booms stands apart from his contemporaries with his
rigorous exploration of the intellectual weaknesses of the
principles of pertinence and provenance when used as appraisal
methodologies. In 1971, at the German Archives Conference,
Booms advocated the principle of contemporary value as a
definitive and objective standard of appraisal. His argument
shifts the focus of Zimmerman's analysis from the significance
records have to the appraising society, to their significance to
the creating society. Noting that a state of absolute
objectivity is an impossible goal, Booms' methodology is an
attempt to "help archivists to distance themselves from their
subjectivity to the greatest possible extent."40 He intended his
model to provide "a concrete orienting principle for ascribing
value through an appraisal process of positive value
selection."41
The principle of contemporary value identifies value from
the perspective of the creating society. Because the concept of
value is not imposed on the records, Booms' principle has the
ability to provide an objective point of reference that can
resolve the tautological dilemma of appraising value in content
analysis. Booms argues that "only the society from which the
material originated and for whose sake it is to be preserved can
40 Booms, "Society," 106.
41 Ibid.
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