The Manual on Appraisal is conceived as a practical guide, aimed first and foremost at archivists faced with the daily problems of appraising and selecting documents, and who may not have been trained to do so.

The authors of the Manual are all members of ICA/CAP, the ICA Committee on Appraisal. While they have good knowledge of the theory of appraisal and document selection, they are essentially practitioners. It is by pooling their experience that a body of information - not a standard - should emerge which can help archivists and record managers choose an appropriate working method, as well as presenting some of the principles subtending high quality appraisal.

We would like to receive your comments before publication.

Please send your remarks (in French or English) to rcleyet-michaud [at] cg59 [dot] fr, by 30 June 2005.

Manual on Appraisal (five chapters of the first part ('General Principals'), together with the outline of the whole work).