4: Strategic Goal 4
We will provide prompt, easy, and secure access to our holdings anywhere, anytime Other Information:
In the decades to come, the expectation of easy online access to our holdings will grow. The breadth of information available
on the Internet has increased public demand for faster access to more information than could even be thought possible just
a decade ago. Research is no longer relegated to libraries and research rooms, but is being done around-the-clock on computers
worldwide. To support this new appetite for information, we will create, to the greatest extent possible, an “archives without
walls.” We have two challenges in this area. The first is to provide access to records that were created digitally. Being
already digital, these will be made available through the Electronic Records Archives. By contrast, our traditional records
must be scanned or otherwise digitized. We will work to digitize selected records, including those most requested by researchers.
Additionally, we will put searchable descriptions of all our holdings online with clear information about the archival context
of the original records and how they may be located and used, and we will develop online tools to assist researchers. Some
researchers need to delve deeper into records than our online services will allow. We will continue to support them with research
rooms and expert reference staff. We will equip these facilities and staff with the tools to help researchers locate records
at any National Archives facility. At the same time, we must reinvent the traditional role of our reference staff and equip
them with the skills they need to work in an online world. The Internet has introduced countless researchers to the holdings
of the National Archives. This thirst for online access to information is exciting, as it brings more and more people to our
virtual doors. Yet the task of building an “archives without walls” is daunting. Our strategies in this area will focus on
developing dynamic partnerships to digitize and deliver our most popular holdings and create tools to help researchers find
the information they seek. By putting our country’s records literally at the public’s fingertips, we will be able to share
our rich resources with more people than ever before.
Objective(s):
|
