What is archival appraisal and its goal?

• A. Assessment to determine archival physical storage capacity needs.
• B. Assessment to determine which records have continuing value for preservation in an archive and which should be destroyed.
• C. Assessment to determine the best software for archival digitization.
• D. Assessment to determine staff preferences for file naming conventions.

Answer: (B)

Archival appraisal is about deciding which records have lasting value and should be preserved, versus which records can be destroyed after their immediate use has passed. It’s the evaluation of records to determine their continuing evidentiary, legal, administrative, or historical worth and to guide disposition decisions that align with the archive’s mission and policies. The goal is to keep the items that will be useful for future accountability, research, or memory, while systematically discarding those without enduring value to conserve space, costs, and access resources.

The other activities described don’t fit this purpose: assessing storage capacity is about infrastructure needs, planning how much space is required; choosing software for digitization relates to project tooling rather than deciding long-term value; and considering staff preferences for file naming deals with daily workflow, not with determining which records deserve preservation.