Create/Choose Your Content - Level 3

What to keep  The process that involves reviewing records to decide if they should become a part of your collections is known as appraisal. There are two situations where appraisal is needed;  To review content you are being offered by a potential donor to decide if you will accept it  To review collections you currently hold to make sure they align with your collecting policy  This level discusses these scenarios in more detail.

Reviewing content being offered by a potential donor 

If someone is offering you content for your collections, it is important that you evaluate that content against the criteria you set out in your collecting policy to decide whether it should be part of your collection. If you decide it should be, you can accept the content using the process you have in place (remembering the plan to share level 2 advice).  

If you decide that the content is not suitable for your collection, it is important to explain clearly why this is the case, so the donor is not offended or discouraged from approaching you in the future. You could suggest other archives where the content might be a better fit.  

Reviewing collections you currently hold against your collecting policy 

This task can be carried out at a time that suits you or be tackled gradually, one collection at a time if needed.  

Once you’ve assessed the content against your collecting policy, you need to decide what to do with it. You have several options 

• If the content has no value at all, you can destroy it. 

• If the content would be more suited to another organization or community group, contact them and ask if they would like it. 

• If it has useful information but no historically unique value, it can be removed from your collection but kept in a reference section. 

• If the content fits with your collecting policy, keep it as part of your collection. 

Whatever situation you are working within, the following steps should be followed. 

• Write down each decision you make and why you made it. This will be useful if someone asks in the future why a particular collection wasn’t kept. Make sure this document Is available for anyone who may need access. Store this with the other documents you have created throughout level one and two. 

• Always consider how the donors you are working with will feel about what is happening with their material. Empathy and clear communication are essential. 

Consistency is important so the criteria set out in your collecting policy should be followed each time you have to appraise a collection. Having a document which lists all the criteria you have on one page would be a useful tool.