Jenny Bunn of UCL provided excellent commentary on the draft Introduction and Methodology sections of the IV in PIM paper, and consequently I have completely revised the methodology [IV in PIM, 20Jan2014 – v0.3]. In summary, the approach I will take is to conduct three studies of retain/destroy decision making using two separate collections – a Job Documents collection and a collection of Mementos. For the first study (using the Job Documents collection), a previous categorisation of ‘Reasons for not destroying the paper’ (RFND criteria), made before I was aware of the NARS Intrinsic Value report, will be compared with the NARS Intrinsic Value (IV) characteristics, and a draft set of PIM Retention Criteria (PIMRC) will be derived from the results. The second study will try out and refine the draft PIMRC in the course of digitising those items in the Job Documents collection that have not already been digitised; and the third study will try out and refine the draft PIMRC by reviewing the retain/destroy decisions that have already been made when digitising the Mementos collection. The knowledge gained in each of the second and third studies will then be combined to produce a final set of PIMRC.

I have already started work on the first study and aim to have completed it, and to have derived the draft PIMRC, by the end of this week.