Primary value (archive)

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Letter from a mining company to the state regulator. The company used the document as evidence that the required measures were carried out and communicated (primary value). Today z. B. Understand how mining companies and supervisory authorities have communicated with each other (secondary value).

In the archival context, the primary value (also primary purpose ) denotes the value of a document that it unfolds for the registrar (authority, institution, private person) within the scope of its creation purpose. For example, a personnel file has a primary value as long as the person concerned is in an employment relationship or entitlements still exist from the employment (e.g. pensions to the widow), because the file is used for the purpose for which it was created. The opposite of the primary value is the secondary value , which is realized when a document is used as a source of information for a purpose other than its creation. For example, after the retention or protection periods have expired, a personal file can be used to obtain information about the person concerned (e.g. in the context of genealogical investigations) or to conduct (historically based) research on the social structure of the employees of an authority or an agency Company. The primary value and above all the secondary value are among the criteria for the selection of documents in the context of the archival evaluation .

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