Archival Appraisal Workshop

Society of Archivists REGISTERED AS A CHARITY NUMBER 1041063

Heritage Council

General Information
Programme Outline
The Society of Archivists, Ireland, The Heritage Council, and UCD Archives, UCD School of History & Archives, are pleased to announce a workshop led by Terry Cook on the topic of archival appraisal.
Terry Cook teaches in the Archival Studies graduate program at the University of Manitoba, Canada. He has conducted workshops and seminars on appraisal, electronic records and archival ethics across Canada and internationally. Terry Cook has written more than eighty publications on a wide range of archival subjects and has served as editor of Archivaria, the scholarly journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists.
Date:	17–19 May 2007
Time:	10.00–17.00 (17–18 May) and 10.00–13.00 (19 May). Please note that registration will take place on the morning of 17 May between 09.30–10.00.
Venue:	Room A003, Health Sciences Complex, UCD.
Fee:	SoA members €150; SoA student members €125; Non-members €300
This is a workshop about appraising records for deciding on acquisition and archival retention as archives, rather than appraising records for other purposes (i.e. it is not a records management workshop, nor dealing with appraisal used for aspects of description, conservation, or public programming, although obviously there are some shared issues).
There is a maximum of 25 places available. Priority is given to SoA members and bookings will be taken for members only until 20 April 2007. After this time, bookings will be taken for non-members. Bookings will be taken until 10 May 2007.
To book a place on the workshop, please contact Bernie Deasy, Training Officer, Society of Archivists, Ireland, or telephone 049-4378300. Please indicate when booking if you require an invoice to facilitate payment. Further information about the venue and programme details will be made available to those who book places on the workshop. A reading list will be sent to participants three weeks before the workshop. Queries about the workshop programme should be directed to Kate Manning, UCD Archives, or telephone 01-7167553.

Workshop Programme

WORKSHOP AND PARTICIPANT INTRODUCTIONS

Introductions, expectations, possible modification of agenda, and a chance to share backgrounds and experiences in appraisal of records. Overview of workshop.

FOUNDATIONS: DEFINITIONS, PROBLEMS, AND “VALUE” CONCEPTS

The problem and importance of appraisal analyzed, schools of thinking about appraisal value, a common language of definition, failures of past approaches.

ORGANIZATIONAL APPRAISAL (GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, OR LARGE INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENTS): UNDERSTANDING MACROAPPRAISAL

Exploring the Canadian approach of macroappraisal as concept/theory, strategy, methodology, and its operational framework.

CASE-LEVEL RECORDS: ISSUES, VALUES, METHODS

One major problem identified in the appraisal literature is sampling and selecting case files for Archives, retaining a small percentage from the whole.

ORGANIZATIONAL/INSTITUTIONAL APPRAISAL: GROUP DISCUSSION

PERSONAL AND PRIVATE-SECTOR RECORDS APPRAISAL: CONCEPTS, METHODS, NEW DIRECTIONS

Setting the landscape: archives vs manuscripts, official records vs personal papers, managing vs collecting, archival performance, traditional vs new values.

COOPERATIVE APPRAISAL: DOCUMENTATION STRATEGIES AND THE MINNESOTA METHOD

Looking at the two more suggestive approaches to private-sector cooperative or collaborative appraisal across some functional or geographical sector.

APPRAISAL: MACHINE-READABLE, ELECTRONIC, DIGITAL RECORDS

The second major problem identified in appraisal literature is identifying the criteria for selecting archival records within computer-based record-keeping systems.

APPRAISAL OF “SPECIAL” MEDIA: PHOTOGRAPHS, CARTOGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURAL/ENGINEERING PLANS, FILM, SOUND, TELEVISION, ETC

An open discussion of “other” or “special” or audio-visual records

ETHICAL APPRAISAL: THE AUDIT TRAIL, TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND MANY VOICES, VALUES, CHOICES

An exploration of the archivist’s responsibilities in appraisal, for what may she or he be held accountable and what not, summarizing appraisal approaches, full circle back to values.