Documenting Appraisal - smith-special-collections/sc-documentation GitHub Wiki

See DACS 5.3

Appraisal notes should describe appraisal decisions, destruction actions, and disposition schedules that are relevant to the understanding and use of the materials being described. They should cover decisions made during acquisition and accessioning, including material that was not accessioned or was sampled.

The note should include:

  • The authority and rule that brought to bear on appraisal decisions (a retention schedule or collection policy)
  • The date on which the appraisal was undertaken
  • A general list of materials that have been destroyed, discarded, transferred, or returned to donors.
  • A note when originals have been destroyed, such as with the originals used to create the YWCA microfilm.

For details, see Separations Procedure.

A Note on Non permanent College Archives Records

For non permanent records, Appraisal notes must be added to the appropriate archival object (see Workflow for Accessioning Non permanent CA Records). The note should include a label of “Scheduled Destruction Date”. Use the following language:

As directed in the Smith College Records Management Policy (2018), College Archives will retain [general record type] from [transferring office] for [retention period]. These records should be destroyed after [date].

Appraisal of audiovisual materials and computer media

In most cases, audiovisual materials and computer media must be digitized or migrated to preservation storage before being used. However, material that is not unique (such as commercial recordings in the Women's Music Archives records and collected music) or is of low-value (such as work by other cartoonists sent to Alison Bechdel) may be assessed as not requiring such treatment.

This decision must be documented in an appraisal note, as well as a Physical characteristics and technical requirements note. An example of an appraisal note from the Alison Bechdel papers is:

Computer media and audiovisual material created by others and sent to Bechdel were retained as evidence of response to her work, but assessed as not requiring migration or digitization to preservation storage prior to use.