A company's board minutes are kept mainly because they show how the company was organized, what it did and how it decided. Which value is that?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "evidential value". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
A donor offers a repository forty boxes of family business files. The archivist reviews them to decide whether they have enough value to be accessioned. What is this process called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "appraisal". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
A donor offers ship models to an archives whose mission is state government records. Which document should the archivist check first to see whether the offer is in scope?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "collecting policy". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
A donor signs an agreement that transfers title to her papers to a repository, with no payment in return. What is the agreement?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "deed of gift". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
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Selection and Appraisal, continued
A historical society stores a church's registers and lets researchers use them, but the church keeps title. In archival terms, what are the registers?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "deposit". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
A repository changes its collecting policy. Staff then review existing holdings to find materials that no longer merit a place and may be deaccessioned. What is this review?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "reappraisal". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
Before looking at any files, an archivist ranks an agency's functions by importance and sets documentation priorities from that ranking. Which approach is this?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "macroappraisal". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
Genealogists still use old census schedules long after the government finished counting the population with them. Which value do the schedules have for those users?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "informational value". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
Several archives, record creators and users plan together how a region's fishing industry will be documented, including which records still need to be created. Which method is this?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "documentation strategy". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
Which record is the clearest case of intrinsic value, the kind that would be lost if only a copy were kept?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "intrinsic value". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 1, Selection and Appraisal.
Arrangement and Description 10
A collection runs from 1890 to 1975, but most of it dates from 1920 to 1940. What is the range 1920 to 1940 called in the description?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "bulk dates". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
A finding aid for the records of a labor union needs a note giving the union's founding date, functions and structure. Which note is that?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "administrative history". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
A repository with a large backlog decides to leave staples and original folders in place and to write brief descriptions. Which approach is it following?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "More Product, Less Process". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
An engineer filed her project folders by job number. Under the principle of original order, how should the archivist arrange them?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "original order". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
DACS says which data elements describe an archival resource. What does EAD add?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "Encoded Archival Description". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
Files from the registrar's office and the president's office arrive mixed in one shipment. What does the principle of provenance tell the archivist to do?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "provenance". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
In a multilevel description, how should a series-level entry treat information already given for the whole collection?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "multilevel description". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
In DACS, which element belongs to the optimum level of a single-level description and not to the required minimum?Society of American Archivists, Describing Archives: A Content Standard, Chapter 1, Levels of Description. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
Recording the shelf and box where each accession sits, and tracking it when boxes move, establishes which kind of control?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "physical control". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
Within the records of one office, the outgoing letters, kept in one filing system and created in the same activity, form which level of arrangement?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "series". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 2, Arrangement and Description.
Reference Services and Access 10
A case file can be opened if a few names are concealed first. What is the process of concealing that information before release called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "redaction". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
A federal agency receives a Freedom of Information Act request. Not counting weekends and legal public holidays, how long does 5 USC 552 give it to decide whether to comply?5 USC 552(a)(6)(A)(i), Freedom of Information Act. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
A journalist asks a reference archivist which collections another researcher has been using. What does the SAA Code of Ethics say about that information?Society of American Archivists, Code of Ethics for Archivists, Privacy. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
A patron wants to reproduce a report that is a work of the United States Government. What does 17 USC 105 say about copyright in it?17 USC 105(a), United States Government works. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
A reading room hands researchers scans of a fragile diary and keeps the original in the stacks. What is the scan called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "use copy". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
A researcher asks the National Archives for the population schedules of a census taken 60 years ago. Why can they not be opened yet?National Archives, Census Records: About. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
A researcher is handed a folder of photographic prints. By the Library of Congress's care guidance, how should the prints be handled?Library of Congress, Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographs: Care and Handling of Photographs. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
Before leaving office a President may restrict access to certain categories of information in Presidential records. What is the longest period 44 USC 2204 allows?44 USC 2204(a), restrictions on access to Presidential records. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
Besides finding out what a researcher needs, the reference interview serves a security purpose. What is it?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "reference interview". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
Under 17 USC 108(b), how many copies of an unpublished work in its collections may an archives make solely for preservation and security?17 USC 108(b), reproduction by libraries and archives. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 3, Reference Services and Access.
Preservation and Protection 10
A conservator mends a torn map and removes old tape stains. A technician places other maps in buffered folders in a cool room. Which pairing of terms is right?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "conservation". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
A continuity of operations plan must identify emergency operating records. Which of these is one, by 36 CFR 1223.2?36 CFR 1223.2, definitions (managing vital records). Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
A repository keeps old word-processor files unchanged and runs software that imitates the original computer to open them. Which digital preservation strategy is this?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "emulation". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
An archivist generates a checksum for each file before a transfer and again afterward. What does comparing the two values show?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "checksum". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
For storing works on paper, the Library of Congress describes a cool, clean, stable environment. About what relative humidity does it give?Library of Congress, Care, Handling, and Storage of Works on Paper: Proper Storage of Works on Paper. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
In the OAIS reference model, which functional area accepts submission information packages into the archive?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "ingest". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
Reels of acetate safety film in a storage room smell sharply acidic, and the film is shrinking and brittle. What is happening?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "vinegar syndrome". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
Which item is a poor candidate for a polyester film sleeve, by the Library of Congress's guidance on storing works on paper?Library of Congress, Care, Handling, and Storage of Works on Paper: Proper Storage of Works on Paper. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
Which practice is the core of integrated pest management in an archives?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "integrated pest management". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
Why does cellulose nitrate film need to be isolated from the rest of a collection?Library of Congress, Care, Handling, and Storage of Motion Picture Film: Dealing with Nitrate Film. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 4, Preservation and Protection.
Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing 10
A county archives looking for grant money learns that the National Archives has a grantmaking office for non-federal records. Which body is it?National Archives, About NHPRC. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
A fragile 1840s letter is wanted for an exhibition case. What lets visitors see how it looks while the original stays in storage?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "facsimile". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
A museum asks to borrow a scrapbook from an archives for a six-month show. Which document sets the terms?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "loan agreement". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
A repository wants to tie an open house to the profession's yearly public awareness campaign. In which month is American Archives Month?Society of American Archivists, American Archives Month. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
A state archivist meets legislators to ask for money for a new records building. In the profession's terms, what is this activity?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "advocacy". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
An archives posts scanned ship logs online and invites volunteers to transcribe them. What is this method of engagement called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "crowdsourcing". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
By the Role Delineation Statement, defining the return on investment for archival services is a task in which domain?Academy of Certified Archivists, Role Delineation Statement for Professional Archivists (2025), Domain 5, Task 8.
In a class visit, an archivist explains what makes something a primary source. Which item fits the definition best?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "primary source". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
The Universal Declaration on Archives, used in advocacy worldwide, was developed by a working group of which body before UNESCO adopted it in 2011?International Council on Archives, The Universal Declaration on Archives. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
Which document sets out the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to use primary sources well, and was approved by the SAA Council in June 2018?Society of American Archivists, Standards: Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 5, Outreach, Advocacy, and Marketing.
Managing Archival Programs 10
A director reviews insurance cover and emergency procedures as part of the systematic control of damage and loss to the archives. What is this function called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "risk management". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
A manager budgets for staff to keep the Certified Archivist credential. By the Academy's certification maintenance page, how long is one recertification cycle?Academy of Certified Archivists, Certification Maintenance: How recertification works. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
A program manager needs cheap space for inactive files that are waiting either for destruction or for transfer to the archives. Which facility is designed for that?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "records center". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
A small historical society has one trained archivist and a few volunteers. What does the profession call that archivist?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "lone arranger". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
A university archives holds only the records its own university created or received. Which type of repository is it?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "institutional archives". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
By the Role Delineation Statement, handling grant administration, from proposals to post-award work, is a task in which domain?Academy of Certified Archivists, Role Delineation Statement for Professional Archivists (2025), Domain 6, Task 13.
In the life cycle model of records, which phases does every version of the model include?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "life cycle". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
Total archives, a strategy that gathers official records together with personal papers and corporate records to document a whole community, was developed where?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "total archives". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
When planning shelving, an archivist counts each standard records center box as roughly what volume?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "cubic foot". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
Which model of recordkeeping, developed in Australia, draws no line between where active management of records ends and archival management begins?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "records continuum". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 6, Managing Archival Programs.
Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities 10
A college archives holds student files covered by FERPA. Under 34 CFR Part 99, when do the rights over education records pass from parents to the student?34 CFR 99.3 (eligible student) and 34 CFR 99.5, Family Educational Rights and Privacy. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
A deed of gift transfers ownership of a writer's manuscripts to an archives and says nothing about copyright. Under 17 USC 202, what has the archives received?17 USC 202, ownership of copyright as distinct from ownership of material object. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
A federal office wants to clear out old case files on its own authority. What does 44 USC 3314 say about destroying records of the United States Government?44 USC 3314, procedures for disposal of records exclusive. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
A hospital archives holds identifiable patient files. Under the HIPAA definitions in 45 CFR 160.103, when does health information about a deceased person stop being protected health information?45 CFR 160.103, definitions: protected health information. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
An archives wants to publish a 1960s photograph that is still in copyright, but no owner can be identified or found. What is such a work called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "orphan work". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
An archivist processing a prominent family's unopened papers is asked by a dealer for early tips on what they contain. Which part of the SAA Code of Ethics speaks most directly to this?Society of American Archivists, Code of Ethics for Archivists, Trust. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
County deed books taken from a courthouse decades ago turn up at an auction. Which legal action could the county use to recover them?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "replevin". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
For a work created on or after January 1, 1978, by a known individual author, how long does copyright last under 17 USC 302(a)?17 USC 302(a), duration of copyright: works created on or after January 1, 1978. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
Under 44 USC 2202, who owns Presidential records?44 USC 2202, ownership of Presidential records. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
Which of these is one of the four factors a court weighs under the fair use section, 17 USC 107?17 USC 107, limitations on exclusive rights: fair use. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 7, Professional, Ethical, and Legal Responsibilities.
Cultural Competency 10
A community has designated a set of recordings as culturally sensitive. By the SAA Code of Ethics, what does an archives need before digitizing them?Society of American Archivists, Code of Ethics for Archivists, Cultural Competency. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
A repository returns a set of mission registers to the people who created them. Which term names this act?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "repatriation". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
A state university receives federal funds and holds Native American cultural items in its special collections. How does 25 USC 3001 classify the university?25 USC 3001(8), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, definitions. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
A town's records document its mill owners in detail and its mill workers hardly at all. What is this gap in the historical record called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "archival silence". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
An archives revises old finding aids that used demeaning terms for the people documented. What is this work called?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "reparative description". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
Local Contexts sorts TK Labels into three groups. TK Seasonal and TK Secret / Sacred belong to which group?Local Contexts, Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels: Protocol Labels. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
Members of a neighborhood help decide what the archives keeps about them and how it is described. Which term names this involvement?Society of American Archivists, Dictionary of Archives Terminology, "participatory archives". Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
Under the definitions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 USC 3001), what marks an object of cultural patrimony?25 USC 3001(3)(D), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, definitions. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
What do Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels from Local Contexts add to a digital record?Local Contexts, Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
What were the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, drafted at Northern Arizona University in April 2006, written to identify?First Archivist Circle, Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, introduction. Outline: Role Delineation Statement (2025), Domain 8, Cultural Competency.
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the Role Delineation Statement for Professional Archivists that the Academy of Certified Archivists publishes as the framework of the Certified Archivist Examination (https://www.certifiedarchivists.org/25-Role-Delineation-Statement, the statement approved in 2025, read 2026-10-09): eight domains. Each keyed fact was read on 2026-10-09 in the public source named under the question: the Society of American Archivists' Dictionary of Archives Terminology, its Code of Ethics and Describing Archives: A Content Standard, the US Code and the Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell Legal Information Institute copy), National Archives and Library of Congress pages, the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials, Local Contexts, the International Council on Archives, and the Academy's own pages. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This free Certified Archivist practice test has 80 questions of our own. It is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the Academy of Certified Archivists.
Read the full guide
No weights, so equal shares
The Academy's Role Delineation Statement, approved in 2025 and read on October 9, 2026, gives its eight domains no weights, so each gets ten questions here.
Half length, real pace
Exam mode draws 50 of ours in 90 minutes: half the real exam's length at its pace.
The Academy's 2025 study guide lists key terms by domain, with MPLP, the OAIS reference model and reparative description among them.
Evidential value is about what the creator did. Informational value is about content, as with census records used by genealogists.
A deed of gift transfers title to the papers. Under 17 USC 202 it does not of itself transfer the copyright.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the Certified Archivist exam?
100 multiple-choice questions with a three-hour time limit, by the Academy's Guide to the Exam. Each has one correct answer, there is no penalty for guessing, and questions may be flagged and revisited.
What is the passing score for the Certified Archivist exam?
The Academy publishes no percent. Its guide says scores are reported as High Pass, Pass, Low Pass or Did Not Pass, with feedback by domain, about four weeks after testing.
What does the Certified Archivist exam cover?
Eight domains: selection and appraisal; arrangement and description; reference services and access; preservation and protection; outreach, advocacy and marketing; managing archival programs; professional, ethical and legal responsibilities; and cultural competency.
Who can take the Certified Archivist exam?
The Academy's Get Certified page says there are no formal educational or professional experience prerequisites to sit for the examination. The exam is given online with a proctor, and the Academy offers no in-person option.
When is the next Certified Archivist exam?
The Academy's Examination Information page, read October 9, 2026, lists June 10 to 12, 2027, with applications from March 1 to April 30, 2027 and a $125 fee.