This book will explore ways of establishing value and measuring in the
archives and specials collections.



There is a vast literature about
ways of measuring value for cultural heritage assets as a whole, particularly
museums and visitor attractions, but archives and special collections in
libraries have largely been overlooked.
They have been very poor at garnering statistical data and devising ways
of measuring the impact of what they do, unlike museums and visitor attractions
with their much heavier footfall.



Do Archives Have Value?
discusses the various valuation methods available, including contingent valuation,
willingness to pay and value chain, and assesses their suitability for use by
archives and special collections. The book also assesses the impact of the
transition to the digital in archival holdings, which will transform their
character and will almost certainly cost more. The discussion will be set in
the context of changing societal expectations of the archive in the wake of numerous scandals where records to address grievances must be kept
irrespective of cost.



Value is explored in a range of
different cultural and organizational contexts with case studies from a range
of countries, including Australia, China, Japan, Malawi, Kenya, Russia and
Thailand. There are contributions from Nancy Bell, Head of Conservation at The
National Archives, Louise Craven, one of the leading UK archival scholars, Paul
Lihoma, National Archivist of Malawi, Helen Morgan from the University of
Melbourne, Pak Te Lee of the University of Hong Kong and Richard Wato from the
National Archives of Kenya.