Appraisal

When deciding on what kinds of material should be retained, processors should make well-informed and efficient appraisal decisions to determine what should be retained and what will be separated in accordance with the gift or transfer agreement. 

This means that instead of conducting an item-level review of all materials, the processor should primarily rely on material's contextual information like:

• Directory and file names.

• Box and folder labels.

• Groupings of folders, files, and directories.

There are times when a more granular review of the material (e.g., item-level review) is appropriate, such as when working with accessions that have restricted material. Additionally, when reviewing material, the processor may come across material that is sensitive or should otherwise be restricted. The Sensitive Materials section of this website (public link) provides more information about what to do in these situations. 

Select any of the sub-pages to learn more about the Bentley's general approaches to appraisal.