Editing Digital preservation (section)

===Appraisal===
[[Archival appraisal]] (or, alternatively, selection<ref>{{cite web|title=Society of American Archivists Glossary - selection |work=web site |year=2014 |url=http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/s/selection |access-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012221022/http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/s/selection |archive-date=12 October 2014 }}</ref>) refers to the process of identifying records and other materials to be preserved by determining their permanent value. Several factors are usually considered when making this decision.<ref>{{cite web|title=Society of American Archivists Glossary - appraisal |work=web site |year=2014 |url=http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/appraisal |access-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012221148/http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/a/appraisal |archive-date=12 October 2014 }}</ref> It is a difficult and critical process because the remaining selected records will shape researchers' understanding of that body of records, or [[fonds]]. Appraisal is identified as A4.2 within the Chain of Preservation (COP) model<ref>{{cite web|title=InterPARES 2 Chain of Preservation Model |work=web site |year=2007 |url=http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_model_display.cfm?model=cop |access-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924035605/http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_model_display.cfm?model=cop |archive-date=24 September 2015 }}</ref> created by the InterPARES 2 project.<ref>{{cite web|title=InterPARES 2 Project |work=web site |url=http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_products.cfm |access-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141002192640/http://www.interpares.org/ip2/ip2_products.cfm |archive-date=2 October 2014 }}</ref> Archival appraisal is not the same as monetary appraisal, which determines [[fair market value]].

Archival appraisal may be performed once or at the various stages of acquisition and [[archival processing|processing]]. Macro appraisal,<ref>{{cite web|title=Society of American Archivists Glossary - macro-appraisal |work=web site |year=2014 |url=http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/m/macro-appraisal |access-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012221236/http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/m/macro-appraisal |archive-date=12 October 2014 }}</ref> a functional analysis of records at a high level, may be performed even before the records have been acquired to determine which records to acquire. More detailed, iterative appraisal may be performed while the records are being processed.

Appraisal is performed on all archival materials, not just digital. It has been proposed that, in the digital context, it might be desirable to retain more records than have traditionally been retained after appraisal of analog records, primarily due to a combination of the declining cost of storage and the availability of sophisticated discovery tools which will allow researchers to find value in records of low information density.<ref>{{cite journal
 |author-link=Courtney C. Mumma, Glenn Dingwall, Sue Bigelow 
 |title=A First Look at the Acquisition and Appraisal of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Fonds: or, SELECT * FROM VANOC_Records AS Archives WHERE Value="true"; 
 |journal=Archivaria 
 |volume=72 
 |issue=72 
 |pages=114–117 
 |date=2011 
 |url=http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13361/14666 
 |issn=1923-6409 
 |access-date=October 8, 2014 
 |url-status=live 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013135211/http://journals.sfu.ca/archivar/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13361/14666 
 |archive-date=October 13, 2014 
|last1=Bigelow 
 |first1=Sue 
 |last2=Dingwall 
 |first2=Glenn 
 |last3=Mumma 
 |first3=Courtney C. 
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Paradigm (Personal Archives Accessible in Digital Media): Appraising digital records: a worthwhile exercise? |work=web site |year=2008 |url=http://www.paradigm.ac.uk/workbook/appraisal/digital-appraisal.html |access-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201072749/http://www.paradigm.ac.uk/workbook/appraisal/digital-appraisal.html |archive-date=1 February 2015 }}</ref> In the analog context, these records may have been discarded or only a representative sample kept. However, the selection, appraisal, and prioritization of materials must be carefully considered in relation to the ability of an organization to responsibly manage the totality of these materials.

Often libraries, and to a lesser extent, archives, are offered the same materials in several different digital or analog formats. They prefer to select the format that they feel has the greatest potential for long-term preservation of the content. The [[Library of Congress]] has created a set of recommended formats for long-term preservation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Library of Congress Recommended Format Specifications |work=web site |year=2014 |url=https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/ |access-date=8 October 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014175635/http://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/ |archive-date=14 October 2014 }}</ref> They would be used, for example, if the Library was offered items for copyright deposit directly from a publisher.