Online Services for Electronic Records: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

1. Online Services for Electronic Records: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Margaret O. Adams, Reference Program Manager NARA Electronic and Special Media Records Services Division IASSIST 2003

2. Background • U.S. National Archives and Records Admin (NARA): an electronic records program since 1968 • Accessioning, preservation, and access services evolved with technology and to meet expectations • Holdings reflect diversity of the U.S. federal govt. • now approx 200,000 files; most are data files • originally supported federal program administration, research, mandated information collections, etc. • electronic records are transferred to NARA after they are appraised as having long-term historical value

3. Traditional User Services for NARA’s Electronic Records • Staff prepare descriptive materials so search for records can be as independent as possible and also assist researchers directly • staff respond using descriptive materials, administrative records, data file documentation, and experience • if NARA has electronic records of interest, researchers review documentation, onsite or in copies (cost-recovery) • researcher can order copy of file(s) on removeable media (cost-recovery), in accord with tenets of the FOIA

4. Evolution of Online Services for NARA’s Electronic Records • 1991:begin using e-mail and announcing news to listservs • 1993:established FTP site on NIH mainframe to distribute informational materials • 1994: NARA mounts “gopher” site, subsequently replaced by NARA Web Page; includes informational materials about electronic records • 1998:extract state-level reports from electronic records of Korean and Vietnam war casualties added to NARA webpage

5. AAD: Access to Archival Databases<http://www.archives.gov/aad> • February 12, 2003: “Soft” public rollout of AAD; no formal announcement • Online search and retrieval access to 50,000,000 records from 33 archival series, in approx 350 files • series selected have releasable records; identify specific persons, places, events, transactions, etc.; suitable for record-level access • AAD includes series and file descriptions, some scanned documentation, and option for viewing or printing individual records with de-coded meanings and/or downloading raw data search results in <csv> files; no charge for use

6. WHY AAD? • Traditional access services meet most needs of data analysts, not seekers of specific records, facts, etc. • Having staff offer customized search and retrieval of specific records is extremely labor intensive • Ubiquity of personal computing has led to rising public expectation for online access to archival electronic records • NARA committed to “ready access to essential evidence”

9. AAD: Access to Archival Databases<http://www.archives.gov/aad> • initial experience: 4000+”virtual visitors” ran 2640 “successful” queries in first week • by six weeks later (end of March), almost 63,000 “visitors” ran approximately 52,000 “successful” queries • moderate increase in reference requests directed to staff (Feb + March = 430 requests; 25 % AAD-related) • 22 % of all requests could be answered by referring the person to AAD to do own records search

10. AAD: Access to Archival Databases<http://www.archives.gov/aad> • during “soft” rollout phase, AAD expanded options for access to a selection of NARA’s electronic records, with manageable impact on reference staff • numbers of “virtual visitors” and queries on a scale that eclipsed traditional demand many-fold • from outset, most queries were for records that identify people

11. AAD: Access to Archival Databases<http://www.archives.gov/aad> • April 4, 2003: the Associated Press (AP) story on AAD: de facto public rollout • USA Today headline: “A Genealogist’s Dream...” • Week of 3/31/03 - 4/6/2003, 79,677 virtual visitors; 35,681 successful queries • AAD requirements: scale for up to 250 simultaneous visitors • yes, overloaded the system -- user problems, etc. • Following week, staff received 252 requests [0.3% of 76,682 visitors] • 165 with AAD-related problems, especially related to misunderstanding the nature of “genealogist’s dream”

12. AAD: Access to Archival Databases<http://www.archives.gov/aad> • April 8, 2003: NARA press release announces AAD and clarifies its coverage • Subsequently: • #s of “virtual visitors” stabilize (more or less) • most system problems ameliorated; system development on-going • received comments mainly positive; a few reflect expectation of “Google-like” access • three months of AAD: 198,993 “successful” queries

14. What Are Our Lessons Learned? • On-going effort needed to maintain resources online • Each offering of a new online service will be met favorably by some, will be challenging to others • new services do not immediately, nor potentially ever, displace demand for existing services • new services raise expectations for future • Preparing metadata to support online search and retrieval of electronic records is very labor intensive • even when it originates with automated accession processing (as it does at NARA)

15. What Else Have We Learned? • in an online world, “publicity” has new meaning • and, overall levels of demand are likely to increase with each release of a new service • online archival reference services will lead to new kinds of demand even as they offer researcher independence • new procedures will likely be needed in response • Staff need flexibility and experience to meet new challenges and to blend in new services

16. Present and Future Access to NARA’s Electronic Records • Continue to describe records, answer researcher inquiries (in-person, by email, post, phone, etc) • Offer copies of files • on removeable media, suitable for contemporary technologies, on a cost-recovery basis • Continue online search and retrieval resource: AAD • Develop infrastructure for electronic transfer of files • Other new services likely as NARA’s Electronic Records Archives (ERA) program emerges

17. For More Information • Contact the reference services staff, Electronic and Special Media Services Div. (NWME) • email: CER@NARA.GOV • telephone: 301-837-0470 • surface mail: NWME, The National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740 • http://www.archives.gov/research_room/media_formats/electronic_records