2: Strategic Goal 2

We will preserve and process records to ensure access by the public as soon as legally possible

Other Information:

In a democracy, the records of the Government belong to its citizens, and providing access to them is a vital service. After the Archivist has identified the records to be retained for posterity, NARA gathers, stores, processes, and preserves them. Our holdings cannot be made available to current and future generations if we do not invest in the archival processing and preservation of records in our custody. Archival processing involves all the steps needed to open a record to the public. It includes establishing basic intellectual control, flagging records that have privacy or national security classifications, providing enhanced discriptions of the records content as well as the context in which the records were created, and performing initial preservation so that the records may be served to the public. New technology has created increased opportunities for easier and faster access to our holdings. However, the same technology has led to the creation of more records. The result is that new records have been accessioned (transferred to the legal custody of the National Archives) faster than they could be processed. This has created a backlog of holdings that has been growing for decades. To deal with this backlog and make our holdings accessible to the public, we will examine our work processes and re-engineer them to make them as effective as possible. We will seek out and develop partnerships to assist in this effort, and will realign our business systems and processes when appropriate. The expected result will be a considerable increase in records available for research. Our archival processing efforts must go hand-in-hand with investments in the preservation, appropriate storage, and security of the records and artifacts in our custody. Our holdings include loose and bound textual records, photographs, motion picture films, architectural drawings, maps and plans, magnetic media, sound recordings, electronic records, and artifacts such as furniture, paintings, and textiles. It is our responsibility to ensure that items such as these—as well as our more famous holdings like the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights—receive the care they are due. This means that they are appropriately preserved, stored, handled, and exhibited so that they are available to future generations. For records to be available to researchers, we must have inspected them and given them appropriate preservation attention. We must continue to focus on preparing appropriate archival space for both our present and future holdings. Changing and increasing threats and vulnerabilities may continue to require improved security measures for our holdings, staff, and infrastructure. We will continue to refine our security measures to guard our holdings while still maintaining the open access that our mission inherently dictates.

Objective(s):

A: Specific Strategies for Accessioning and Processing Records A

B: Specific Strategies for Accessioning and Processing Records B

C: Specific Strategies for Accessioning and Processing Records C

D: Specific Strategies for Accessioning and Processing Records D

E: Specific Strategies for Accessioning and Processing Records E

F: Specific Strategies for Accessioning and Processing Records F

G: Specific Strategies for Accessioning and Processing Records G

H: Specific Strategies for Storage, Preservation, and Collections Security H

J: Specific Strategies for Storage, Preservation, and Collections Security J

I: Specific Strategies for Storage, Preservation, and Collections Security I

K: Specific Strategies for Storage, Preservation, and Collections Security K

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