CA Archivist Archival Principles & Practices 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does the principle of 'original order' require an archivist to do when processing a collection?
- Reorganize materials alphabetically for user convenience
- Maintain the arrangement established by the creator (Correct answer)
- Separate materials by format regardless of creator's filing system
- Discard duplicates before establishing any order
Correct answer: Maintain the arrangement established by the creator
Original order requires maintaining the arrangement the creator established, as it reflects the creator's activities and relationships among records.
Question 2: Which appraisal theory emphasizes selecting records based on their potential to document society's major functions rather than institutional history?
- Schellenberg's evidential value theory
- Macro-appraisal (Correct answer)
- The Minnesota Method
- Functional analysis appraisal
Correct answer: Macro-appraisal
Macro-appraisal, developed by Terry Cook, focuses on appraising records based on the societal functions they document rather than their institutional origin.
Question 3: When an archivist encounters a deed of gift that restricts access to a collection for 25 years, what is the PRIMARY obligation?
- Negotiate to shorten the restriction period immediately
- Honor the restriction terms as a legal and ethical obligation (Correct answer)
- Allow access to researchers with institutional affiliation
- Apply the oldest records first for early opening
Correct answer: Honor the restriction terms as a legal and ethical obligation
Deeds of gift are legal instruments, and archivists are ethically and legally bound to honor access restrictions stipulated by donors.
Question 4: Which of the following best describes 'intrinsic value' in archival appraisal?
- The monetary worth of a document at auction
- Qualities that make the original irreplaceable even if copied (Correct answer)
- The research utility of information within a record
- Value derived from the record's administrative function
Correct answer: Qualities that make the original irreplaceable even if copied
Intrinsic value refers to qualities—age, aesthetic appeal, signature, seal—that make the physical original worth retaining even when content has been captured digitally.
Question 5: An archivist is creating a finding aid for a newly processed collection. Which descriptive standard is MOST widely used in the United States for this purpose?
- ISAD(G)
- Dublin Core
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) (Correct answer)
- Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
Correct answer: Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
DACS is the US standard for describing archival materials and is maintained by the Society of American Archivists.
Question 6: What is the primary purpose of Encoded Archival Description (EAD)?
- To provide a metadata schema for digital preservation
- To encode finding aids in XML for interoperability and online access (Correct answer)
- To standardize donor agreement language
- To index audiovisual materials for retrieval
Correct answer: To encode finding aids in XML for interoperability and online access
EAD is an XML-based standard that encodes finding aids, enabling repositories to share and display archival descriptions online in a standardized format.
Question 7: During a survey of an unprocessed collection, an archivist discovers materials that appear to belong to a different creator mixed in. What archival principle guides the correct action?
- Combine all materials into a single series for efficiency
- Separate the materials to respect provenance of each creator (Correct answer)
- Keep materials together and note the anomaly in the finding aid only
- Discard the mixed materials as they compromise the collection
Correct answer: Separate the materials to respect provenance of each creator
The principle of provenance requires that records from different creators be kept separate to preserve the context of each creator's activities.
CA Archivist Archival Principles & Practices 2
What does the principle of 'original order' require an archivist to do when processing a collection?