Invitation to a bonfire: Reappraisal and deaccessioning of records as collection management tools in an Archives-A reply to Leonard Rapport

Abstract

Despite Leonard Rapport's articulate argument for it, reappraisal and deaccessioning of archival records is an inappropriate tool for collection management. Such broad-scale review is warranted only when the generally applied standards of appraisal at an institution are erroneous, when there is systematic error rather than possible misjudgment in applying those standards in specific cases. The proper time for reappraising and possibly deaccessioning records is during the processing of newly accessioned records, which may render old ones redundant or irrelevant to the changing nature of the holdings.