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

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

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

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

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

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”

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

RESPONSE TOTALS N = 7525

GOVERNMENT

ACADEMIC

FOR PROFIT, inc. MEDIA

LAY PUBLIC and NON-PROFIT

RE

QU

ES

TO

R T

YP

E

NARA ELECTRONIC RECORDS REFERENCE SERVICES

RESPONSES BY RECORD GROUP CLUSTERS FY1998 - FY1999

MILITARY (16 RG) BUREAU OF CENSUS

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMM'N ALL OTHER CIVILIAN (40 RG)

GENERAL INFORMATION (not record group specific)

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

NUMBER OF DATASETS N = 4073

GOVERNMENT

ACADEMIC

FOR PROFIT, inc. MEDIA

LAY PUBLIC and NON-PROFIT

RE

QU

ES

TO

R T

YP

ENARA ELECTRONIC RECORDS FILES COPIED FOR RESEARCHERS

BY RECORD GROUP CLUSTER FY1998 - FY1999

MILITARY (7 RG) CENSUS SEC HEALTH/HUMAN SVC (4 RG) FHLBB ALL OTHER CIVILIAN (15 RG)

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

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

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”

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

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)

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

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

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