BACHELOR FINAL EXAMINATION- Academic Year 2022/2023

Second Session

Program of Studies BRMAS Year of Program L2

Exam Date 15-June-2023 Allowed Duration 4 hrs

Course Title RMAS 201 - Professor Proscovia Svard

Appraisal and Data
Collection
Instructions In the score assessment, priority will be given to independent analysis,
the demonstration of one's own reasoning and factual and well-
structured answers. You are expected to refer to course literature.
There are two types of referencing systems: you either use the Harvard
referencing system where you write the references in the text for
example (Svard, 2017 p. 13) or the Oxford system where you write
footnotes for example.1 Regardless of what system you use, you are
expected to present/write a reference list at the end of your answers.
Kindly look at the course literature to see how references are written.
Your answers should be a minimum of 5 pages.
• Kindly hand back the articles after your examination and
do not write on them.
• Mind your handwriting because if the examiner cannot
read it, the consequences will be no marks.
Allowed Documents 1. Cook, T. 2005. Macro-appraisal in Theory and Practice:
Origins, Characteristics, and Implementation in Canada, 1950-
2000. Archival Science, 5: pp. 101–16.
2. Cook, Terry. 2011. ‘We Are What We Keep; We Keep What
We Are’: Archival Appraisal Past, Present and Future, Journal
of the Society of Archivists, 32:2, 173-189.
3. Hamer, A. 2018. Ethics of Archival Practice: New
Considerations in the Digital Age Archivaria Association of
Canadian Archivists, pp. 156-179.
4. Reed, B. Archival Appraisal and Acquisition, Encyclopedia of
Library and Information Sciences, Fourth Edition, Taylor &
Francis. DOI: 10.1081/E-ELIS4-120044327.

Semester 1, 2022/2023 Final Exam

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Exam Questions:

Points: 50

Question 1: Reflect upon what you have learnt from the course so far and discuss how it will help
you work with archives in a manner that is inclusive of all citizens. (10 points).

Question 2: To collect historical evidence, archivists must create strategies to build collections
thoughtfully, rather than being passive receivers of files of limited value. Discuss the strategies
you would employ if you were working as an archivist. (10 points).

Question 3: A university archives holds the audio tapes of oral interviews that faculty members
had made with members of a radical organization. Organization members had been promised
complete confidentiality and that the tapes would be closed to access until their deaths. However,
the police believes that the tapes may lead them to solving a major crime and are demanding access.
Discuss how from an ethical perspective you are to solve such a situation. (10 points).

Question 4: Cook (2011) argues that “archivists are what they keep.” Elaborate on what he meant.
(5 points).

Question 5: Hamer (2018) argues that professional archivists, face moral dilemmas in their day-
to-day work and regularly engage in decision-making yet “struggle on the best way to appraise
ethically and to balance the various legal, regulatory, financial and ethical obligations. Discuss and
demonstrate how appraisal is not just a matter of destroying records. (15 points).

Good luck!

Semester 1, 2022/2023 Final Exam

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