Assignments

Class participation (30% of grade): Students will be expected to read assigned readings, prepare a minimum of one-paragraph précis of each to be turned in, and come to class prepared to discuss them critically. Since students will make their choice of project early, it is expected that they will bring the specifics of “their” repository to bear in class discussions, using the discussions in class and fellow students’ insights to help them clarify the project work.

Semester project (45% of grade): Each student will write an evaluation of the acquisition/appraisal policies/procedures of an archival repository in the Austin area. The student will visit the repository; evaluate the collection, existing acquisition policies, and any formalized evidence of appraisal practice (handbooks, rules of thumb, etc.); interview appropriate staff for actual appraisal practice (if necessary, i.e. if adequate information cannot be obtained from publicly-available sources, and only after the research listed has been done); read appropriate appraisal literature for the kinds of collections maintained by the repository; and prepare a report evaluating findings (minimum 10 pages, double-spaced and exclusive of endnotes, appendices, and bibliography). The report will cover the following elements:

1. Description of the institution, its collections, and the selection and appraisal policies/practices it has used over time.
2. Statement of what significant element(s) of appraisal theory this case study can be used to address.
3. Evaluation of appraisal policies/practices, based upon standard archival handbooks discussed in class and additional theoretical literature appropriate to the collections (your evaluation and references should reflect a critical reading of this literature).
4. Formal statement of revisions to the institution’s collection and appraisal policies and practices that could be appropriate to the institution and its collections, based upon current theoretical literature.
5. Suggestion of evaluation methods for determining whether selection and appraisal policies and practices, existing and proposed, are successful.

Students should choose the repository they wish to analyze by the fourth class meeting (September 29) and prepare a brief (half-page) proposal of how they intend to proceed. We will discuss progress in class several times during the semester so that any problems encountered can be addressed. The resulting paper should be a scholarly and professional production adhering to the most recent Chicago Manual of Style.

Presentation (25% of grade): Each student will prepare a fifteen-minute presentation of the findings of the above project, designed to provide classmates with an overview of the repository for context, but to concentrate on the special problems or issues of acquisition and appraisal that the repository faces, the ways it has solved them, and the student's suggestions for improvement concomitant with the mission of the institution and cost-benefit expectations. The student will invite a representative of the institution to attend the presentation.