Beyond Sampling: Returning to Macroappraisal for the Appraisal and Selection of Case Files

Case files are voluminous and present challenges to archivists, government departments, and other institutions that are charged with the responsibility of managing these records either throughout or at various stages of their life cycle. To date, archivists and records administrators, both in Canada and worldwide, have recognized the case file challenge and are rethinking solutions for dealing with this persistent problem. This article argues that by building on our cumulative knowledge acquired through years of applying macroappraisal and functional analysis to the appraisal of government records, and staking out a modern definition of “case file records” based on their transactional characteristics, we indeed do have the skills and the expertise to tackle the problem and develop a new solution for case file records. Rather than taking a piecemeal approach or relying on sampling techniques, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Case Files Appraisal Working Group (CFAWG)¹ demonstrates how to consistently make keep-destroy appraisal decisions for the disposition of operational case file records.²     

Evaluation of Counselor Training in Gestalt Methods

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a Gestalt skill-training group. Results indicated that after training, counselors responded to a client statement of conflict significantly more often with a two-chair dialogue intervention, and used significantly more of the advanced skills of direct guidance, open question, and nonverbal referent than they did before training.