Course Instructor:
Philip Bantin
This course will review the basic theories, methodologies, and most significant problems relating to the appraisal of records.
The course will address the following key questions:
- Why do archivists appraise? What are the goals of appraisal?
- What are we trying to represent in the reconstruction of the past?
- What do archivists appraise?
- In trying to achieve the goals of appraisal (however that is defined), what records of the past will we value, acquire and preserve, and why?
- How do archivists appraise? To address this question, the class will review prevalent appraisal practices and methods, including traditional archival appraisal methodologies, appraisal of records as symbols and representations of identity, functional appraisal, documentation strategies, user-based appraisal models, risk based methodologies, and models that incorporate parts of each of these strategies;
- How effective are these appraisal strategies? To get a better sense of how these strategies function in the real world, students will examine some case studies outlining implementations of the four major appraisal models:
- A traditional but modified Schellenberg model, functional appraisal, the so-called "Minnesota Method," and Documentation Strategies.
