Annual Report 1999
The National Archives and Records Administration
Annual Report 1999
This annual report is available in two formats: HTML and PDF (52 KB). The HTML text appears below. Only the PDF version, however, contains the tables and charts listed under "Statistical and Financial Reports."
Contents
What Is the National Archives and Records Administration? How Important Is Our Work?
Message from the Archivist of the United States
The Charters of Freedom Project Kicks Off
Message from the President of the Foundation for the National Archives
Special Achievements
The Archives Comes to You
Finding Out Who You Are
New Life for the Charters of Freedom
Records Without Paper
History on Display
An Ending to a War Story
Measuring Up: Performance Reporting at NARA
Statistical and Financial Reports (Available in the PDF version only)
Organization Chart
Holdings and Use of NARA
Financial Operations
Trust Fund and Gift Fund
Disposal of Federal Records
NARA Managerial Staff
NARA Facilities
What Is the National Archives and Records Administration?
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is our national record keeper. An independent agency created by statute in 1934, NARA safeguards records of all three branches of the Federal Government. NARA's mission is to ensure that Federal officials and the American public have ready access to essential evidence - records that document the rights of citizens, the actions of government officials, and the national experience.
NARA carries out this mission through a national network of archives and records services facilities stretching from Washington to the West Coast, including 10 Presidential libraries documenting administrations of Presidents back to Herbert Hoover. Additionally, NARA publishes the Federal Register, administers the Information Security Oversight Office, and makes grants for historical documentation through the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
NARA meets thousands of information needs daily, ensuring access to records on which the entitlements of citizens, the credibility of government, and the accuracy of history depend.
How Important Is Our Work?
The more I learn about record keeping, the more strongly I feel not only that it buttresses our culture and our peoples' rights and identities, but that democracy itself needs it. Open government, accountable to the people, requires open records, accessible to the people, now, and in the years to come. Under authoritarian regimes, government records do not support rights, identities, entitlements, public insight, and historical understanding. Instead, government files support surveillance, suspicion, political suppression, and persecution. Perhaps most important, records in a democracy are indispensable for justice. The government and the public both need records to defend themselves in courts that do not deny access to evidence, but allow people to present evidence so that justice can prevail.
We are different because our government and our way of life are not based on the divine right of kings, the hereditary privileges of elites, or the enforcement of deference to dictators. They are based on pieces of paper, the Charters of Freedom - the Declaration that asserted our independence, the Constitution that created our government, and the Bill of Rights that established our liberties.
And I remember something that Senator Trent Lott observed about them. Abroad, we tend to go see a nation's crown jewels as an expression of its glory. Here, our national crown jewels are these pieces of paper enshrined and displayed to visitors in the National Archives.
Our democracy depends on the Charters and on millions of other records in the care of government archives at all levels. For in this country records define all of our governments, document all of our identities, establish all of our entitlements, and enable us to hold accountable those to whom we entrust office at the Federal, state, and local level.
Every time NARA provides ready access to records that are useful and beneficial to people, and every time we come up with records that help people document their identities and verify their entitlements to rights and benefits as citizens, I feel we are contributing to the health of our democracy. Every time our records enable people to analyze the actions of our Government and hold our officials responsible, every time we help people figure out what really happened in our history and assess the meaning of it, we are contributing to the health of our democracy.
Whether you visit the Charters of Freedom on the Constitution Avenue side of the National Archives Building or do research into your family history on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the building, you, too, are contributing to the health of our democracy. Each document, whether celebrated or not - the thousands of pension files, passenger lists, census records, and other materials that shed light on the lives of the humble as well as the renowned, the immigrant as well as the early settler, and those who came in bondage as well as those who sought a freer, better life - is a treasure in its own right and makes up the essential evidence that we preserve. And by using these records in Washington, in our regional archives, in our Presidential libraries, or on our web site, you become living proof that we are a government of, by, and for the people.
Collectively, we have an awesome responsibility. And we face more challenges than ever to meet it. Every day thousands of new records are being created in a variety of forms and formats. Just as early in the 20th century we faced the challenge of how to organize more than 100 years of Government records into a National Archives, as we enter the 21st century, we must meet the challenge of preserving and providing access to electronic records. As you will see throughout this annual report, I believe we are making progress. And I know, for the sake of our democratic society, that we must.
John W. Carlin
Archivist of the United States
The Charters of Freedom Project Kicks Off
In 1999, a dramatic event occurred that should warm the hearts of all of us who care about our country. It took place in the magnificent Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington. More than a hundred prominent citizens assembled - Government officials, officers of corporations, heads of foundations, and representatives of the Congress. Music played; in came a uniformed color guard from the armed services to herald the entrance of the President of the United States and the First Lady.
We all were there to celebrate America's priceless Charters of Freedom - the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. We gathered to hear President Clinton announce that AT&T Corporation had made a $1 million contribution to the "Charters of Freedom Project" that will present our country's founding documents to the American people in a thoroughly modernized and intensely meaningful setting. Already, the Congress and the Administration are supporting the effort with funds to renovate the National Archives Building that has been the Charters' home for nearly 50 years. The Pew Charitable Trusts have made a grant of $800,000 to help finance the prototype encasement for Charters so that we can continue to display them safely and effectively for future generations. If our Foundation can raise the necessary private funds, visitors in the 21st century will not only see these documents, they will also understand from exhibits, theater programs, and educational and research opportunities what the Charters mean in American life.
Since the President and First Lady visited the Archives, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has responded with a $250,000 gift. The Knight Foundation gift will help conserve the magnificent Charter murals that hang in the Rotunda above the founding documents. And one of our National Archives Foundation Board members, Jeanette Cantrell Rudy, has linked her name and heart to the project with a $250,000 gift. The Charters of Freedom Project is a paramount priority for the Foundation for the National Archives.
This initiative will place the founding documents in an educational setting, including exhibits of unique National Archives holdings and interactive displays. This will enable all visitors, in person and online, to understand the significance of the Charters, their history, and their current meaning.
Individual citizens are participating in this national priority by joining the Foundation for the National Archives. We invite all who value their democratic heritage to become active advocates of our great Charters of Freedom through membership in the Foundation and participate with the current members who are dedicating their gifts to this goal.
Our Foundation memberships are helping assure that when the reencased Charters are displayed in their new cases in the renovated Rotunda, NARA will have the resources to showcase its collections around the Charters and take these exhibits across the country to your communities. Foundation members are helping to create the new Genealogy and Community History Research Center with its reference library to assist you wherever you live. And today's Foundation Membership support will enable NARA better to serve teachers and engage students through original documents, lectures, tours, and online activities in the new Learning Center.
The Foundation for the National Archives encourages you to make your personal connection with America's history and link your name at the National Archives with the Founding Fathers who signed our Charters of Freedom. Please call Naomi Revzin, Director of Development at the National Archives and Records Administration, at 301-713-6146 or 1-888-809-3126 for more information and to learn how you can make your personal commitment.
Lawrence F. O'Brien III
President
Foundation for the National Archives
The Archives Comes to You
Time was, you had to go to downtown Washington, DC, to see the historic documents, records, and artifacts the National Archives and Records Administration preserves and guards for future generations.
Now, our holdings come to you on your computer via the Internet - at www.nara.gov. In 1999 our online presence grew significantly, with more offerings available for schoolchildren seeking to learn more of their nation's history, for researchers and historians who are writing it, and for ordinary citizens forever fascinated by it.
Schoolchildren and their teachers can tap into NARA through The Digital Classroom. In 1999 the Classroom published "Bright Ideas from the National Archives," which described nearly 100 collections of records chosen especially for the National History Day theme of "Science, Technology, and Invention in History." The Classroom also offered 35 new Constitution-related lesson plans developed by The Constitution Community, a partnership between classroom teachers and NARA education specialists.
Researchers, historians, journalists, and other professionals will benefit from progress we made in our multiyear Electronic Access Project. Central to that effort is an online tool called NAIL - for NARA Archival Information Locator. NAIL is the working prototype for a much more complete system, the Archival Research Catalog, which will eventually describe holdings in all our units. In 1999 we selected an outside vendor to develop it, and it is to be put into operation by 2001.
Significant progress in the Electronic Access Project was made in 1999.
We completed a multiyear project of putting online 124,000 images of high-interest photographs, maps, and textual documents. The collection includes popular items, such as the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, and representative items from our holdings, such as the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Cuba from 1961 to 1964. It also includes samples of census records and pension files. The images are linked to records descriptions and are available through NAIL. For persons needing records on microfilm, we completed an online database that describes and locates within NARA nationwide more than 3,100 microfilm publications.
There were other major additions to our online offerings in 1999. The Office of the Federal Register, which already puts the daily Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations online, added the listing of Presidential Executive orders and their codification. The new Holocaust-Era Assets site provides sources on the history of assets stolen from Jews and other dispossessed peoples in World War II. Another new site has the interim report of the interagency working group on Nazi war crimes.
We also continued to expand our online Exhibit Hall in 1999. Copies of documents that established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were added to commemorate NATO's 50th anniversary. The Apollo 11 flight plan was offered in observance of the 30th anniversary of man's first steps on the Moon. And the communication between then-astronaut John Glenn and Mission Control during his historic flight in 1962 was added as Glenn made his second trip into space in late 1998 on the space shuttle Discovery.
Our home page itself was made more user friendly. Among its notable features are direct links to the Presidential libraries, the Federal Register, and the Research Room, the main entry point for researchers to locate and access most information. A new search engine was installed in 1999 to make it easier for users to find what they needed among our online offerings.
These improvements to NARA's online site, as well as those to come, will continue to enhance our efforts not only to open Federal records to the public but to make them easily and quickly accessible.
Finding Out Who You Are
Your average researchers at the National Archives and Records Administration aren't working on doctoral theses or a lengthy books. Instead, they're trying to find out where they came from in hopes of passing their findings on to their children and future generations. Genealogy's popularity soared after the publication and TV adaptation of Alex Haley's Roots in the mid-1970s. Now, it's a popular topic, hobby, and even obsession for many Americans, the vast majority of whom can trace their roots to faraway places in Europe, Asia, Africa, or Latin America.
Not surprisingly, genealogy research is a major activity at the National Archives and Records Administration. The Federal records we hold - including census records, passenger lists, and military pension files - are critical, core resources for both amateur and professional genealogists.
Because these records get so much use, many have been copied onto microfilm. Until recently, information about microfilm copies, located in our research rooms around the country, has often been inaccurate and not easily accessible to either the public or even to our own staff. In the past year, however, we have created a database - available through the Internet - that contains brief descriptions and locations for the approximately 3,100 numbered microfilm publications we have. And we added 32 new publications in 1999.
Genealogists also can use the Internet to call up more than 400,000 descriptions of records in our custody. These are available from the NARA Archival Information Locator (NAIL), which is the prototype for an online catalog of all our holdings nationwide. The Internet address is http://www.nara.gov/nara/nail/nailgen.html.
In the past year, the genealogy section of the NARA web site (www.nara.gov/genealogy) was expanded to include information about the 1930 census and selected "Genealogy Notes" articles from Prologue, NARA's quarterly magazine. The site also has links to records of interest to genealogical researchers such as the Compiled Military Service Records for the 1,235 "Rough Riders" of the Spanish-American War and the Wallace Roll of Cherokee Freedmen in Indian Territory, 1890. Also put online were the entire lists of soldiers, sailors, and airmen killed in the wars in Korea and Vietnam; they can be viewed by state and hometown of record.
For many people, searching these records may be time-consuming but not impossible. Our facilities in various locations have records of immigrants from China and other Asian countries, the waves of immigrants from Europe, and many Native American tribes. And we are preparing to publish on microfilm the listing of persons crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.
But some Americans don't have a name with which to begin their research. African American researchers have always had a particularly hard time because years of slavery obscured the record. Before emancipation, documents, such as bills of sale for slaves, recorded only the first names of the slaves, and slave documents often fail to include birth and death dates. Even after the abolition of slavery, birth certificates, death certificates, and other records were rare or nonexistent, as they are for most Americans until the 20th century.
We have begun to work to help alleviate this problem. In 1999 alone, we made available the Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United State Colored Troops, 2nd - 7th US Colored Infantry, as well as the Miscellaneous Service Cards records from the Civil War era. Researching the past is challenging. And genealogical research remains a sometimes confusing process of sifting through data of varying accuracy. But the average NARA researchers are looking for more detail about their ancestry. For them, genealogical research can be a uniquely rewarding and satisfying endeavor. NARA can be, and wants to be, part of that endeavor.
New Life for the Charters of Freedom
Preserving the nation's "Charters of Freedom" - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights - is perhaps the most sacred and well-known role of the National Archives and Records Administration.
In 1999 we took major steps in our decades-old stewardship to ensure that these documents, already more than 200 years old, are properly preserved for the new millennium. We began the multiyear process of removing the documents from their 1952 encasements, performing conservation treatment on them, and re-enclosing them in new state-of-the-art encasements.
These documents, which will be taken off public display in mid-2001, will be returned to a remodeled and refurbished Rotunda at the National Archives Building in Washington in 2003 in a new and modern display that will include all four pages of the Constitution.
The re-encasement and renovation projects will be accomplished through a public-private partnership. Congress is providing funds to re-encase the Charter documents and make changes to the Rotunda and National Archives Building. Other funding - to provide conservation treatment for the murals and enhance the education programs involving the Charters - will come from private sources. The $20 million Charters of Freedom private partnership campaign was launched on July 1, 1999, by President and Mrs. Clinton at a ceremony at the National Archives Building.
The original encasements were state-of-the-art for 1952, when the documents were placed in their current locations. But several years ago, NARA preservation experts noticed signs of glass deterioration on the inner surfaces of the encasements. Although there was no visible evidence of damage to the documents, there was concern that prolonged contact between the parchment and the glass could be damaging to the Charters.
Science has advanced a great deal since 1952, and the new encasements will take full advantage of new technology to preserve the Charters.
The prototype for the new encasement was unveiled March 17, 1999, at a ceremony at the National Archives Building. It was manufactured by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly the National Bureau of Standards, which built the 1952 encasements), with assistance from NARA.
The new encasements will be made of titanium and aluminum with nonreflecting tempered glass. They can be opened and resealed, if necessary, to allow examination of the documents. The documents will never touch the glass and will instead lie on special paper handmade from pure cellulose with no chemical bleaching or additives. And the encasement will be filled not with helium, but with argon, which is less likely to leak.
The current Charter encasements are not easily viewed by persons with disabilities, but that will change when the new encasements are installed. In 1999, tests using wooden mockups of display cases were conducted with persons of varying heights and with adults and children in wheelchairs. The aim was to determine the optimum level at which the encasements should rest and the angle at which they should be placed.
Late in 1999, the encased letter of transmittal for the Constitution, which was not on display in the Rotunda, was opened. Conservation and preservation experts found it to be in good condition. As other pages are removed from their current encasements, they will receive conservation treatment as needed before being placed in their new encasements.
When the Charters are re-encased and returned to the Rotunda, all four pages of the Constitution will join the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence on permanent display for the first time. And all Americans and our guests from around the world will have a better view of the living, breathing, vital documents that guide our vibrant democracy.
Records Without Paper
Dwindling quickly are the days when Federal agencies just put all their letters, memos, historic documents, and lengthy reports in boxes and shipped them to the National Archives and Records Administration for description and preservation.
Now - in the era of "save as" and "email" and "dot-com" - the overall load is becoming physically lighter because more records are electronic. Although heavy boxes full of paper will still come, an increasing percentage of the records will exist only electronically.
Email is an example. Person-to-person transactions that once were handled face-to-face or with a single telephone call now can take five or six email messages, each one a new item to be dealt with by record keepers and archivists as they assemble the record of history.
This presents a major two-fold challenge for NARA, the repository of the nation's Federal records. The short-term challenge is how to take into its system in an orderly way a skyrocketing amount of new records, then describe and preserve them. The long-term challenge is how to preserve them in such a way that they can be accessible in future years, when the technology used to create the records no longer exists.
To meet these challenges, we at NARA are taking part in major research, conducted for us and other Federal agencies at the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, spearheaded by the Supercomputer Center at the University of California at San Diego. In 1999 that research began to pay off.
There, researchers were able to devise methods to preserve 1 million email messages in 1 day. The challenge of preserving the high volume of electronic records that Federal agencies are creating, such as email systems, is unprecedented. Although we have preserved electronic files from Federal agencies over the past several decades, we will in the coming decade need new capabilities to preserve not only many more electronic records, but a greater variety, created with new kinds of software applications.
Our first major test will come when the Clinton administration's email, estimated as high as 40 million messages, is transferred to us. That's in addition to all the regular kinds of Presidential documents, many more of which are now electronic rather than paper.
Meanwhile, the San Diego Supercomputer Center also has been able to conceive a way to free the electronic information from its hardware and software programs. That way, the information can be stored in such a manner that the best technology of the future can be used to access the records of the past.
We also are reaching out to our client agencies in the Federal Government to help them manage and preserve electronic records. We launched an interagency task force to identify the best practices now available and are sharing the results on our web site, www.nara.gov.
We also are making progress in other areas of managing, storing, and accessing electronic records. Experts are exploring ways to offer researchers online access and search capabilities to some of our accessioned electronic records; researchers currently don't have direct access to individual records within an electronic file. Another NARA project is aimed at enhancing our ability to electronically verify records received for storage from other Federal agencies. And our experts are developing ways to more quickly make "preservation copies" of electronic records.
So as technology produces new and faster ways to create records electronically, we at NARA are working to keep pace with the new technology and anticipate the great leaps forward that will almost surely come in the new century.
History on Display
"You've no idea the experience I'm getting. . . . now I have attained my one ambition, to be a Battery commander. If I can only make good at it, I can hold my head up anyway the rest of my days," the young artillery captain wrote to his sweetheart from the battlefields of France in 1918. "By the time you read this letter, you won't have a thing to worry about but how quickly I'll be home to march down the aisle with you."
The young officer was Harry S. Truman, and Bess Wallace was his sweetheart. The words are from one of many letters he wrote her over nearly 50 years - part of one of our most popular and important exhibits during 1999: "Dear Bess: Love Letters from the President," at the Truman Presidential Library. Permanent and special exhibits at NARA facilities drew 2.3 million visitors in 1999 and praise from the media, scholars, and visitors themselves.
Visitors to the Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington who came to see our most famous holdings - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights - also saw a receipt for the Louisiana Purchase, Alexander Graham Bell's patent on the telephone, and a letter from Elvis Presley to President Richard Nixon that resulted in an impromptu Oval Office meeting between the two. All of these and more were part of "American Originals, Part IV," a changing exhibit that each year offers different pieces of the documentary treasure the National Archives holds.
One of the most well-received NARA exhibits in Washington was "Picturing the Century: One Hundred Years of Photography from the National Archives." It features not only photographs of Presidents, wars, and international diplomacy but also images of poverty, breathtaking scenic views, and snapshots of ordinary Americans.
In the Presidential libraries, one of the most ambitious and popular exhibits was "The American Century" at the Ford Museum. Visitors experienced the epic events, unforgettable personalities, and amazing accomplishments of the 20th century. Among the 500 items displayed were Charles Lindbergh's New York-to-Paris flight suit, Franklin D. Roosevelt's wheelchair, a piece of the Berlin Wall, and Louis Armstrong's trumpet.
By contrast, a comparatively small exhibit at the Eisenhower Library, on the 40th anniversary of the Barbie Doll, featured 513 dolls and brought visitors and collectors to Kansas from all over the country. Norman Rockwell's paintings of Presidents increased attendance at the Reagan Library. An exhibit on "a partnership" between Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt opened at the Roosevelt Library. The Bush Library hosted a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. The Carter Library depicted Camp David, "historic grounds for peace."
Regional records services facilities also hosted exhibits. The Central Plains Region recreated a Korean War bunker with a soldier in full battle dress for the 50th anniversary of that conflict. And the Mid-Atlantic Region offered an exhibit depicting the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 1801 until its closing in 1996.
The Truman Library was also the setting for a major historic event on March 19. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hosted top officials of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland for a ceremony marking their entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was begun 50 years earlier during the Truman administration.
But it was the exhibits that best engaged the public. They provided - in an entertaining yet educational way - a glimpse of our nation's roots, our most recent Presidents, and the symbols and artifacts of the many chapters of our American experience.
An Ending to a War Story
Nearly 1.2 million African Americans served in World War II, yet for the tens of millions of moviegoers watching the epic D-day battle in Saving Private Ryan, not a single African American soldier is presented.
But black soldiers fought at Normandy. Black artillery units provided fire support and air defense from Normandy beaches to the heart of Germany. Black soldiers earned many individual awards for valor and several unit commendations, including a distinguished unit citation. And in the last 2 months of the war, black volunteer infantry replacements, who had been serving in combat support roles, joined and fought alongside white infantry and armored units, although usually in separate all-black platoons.
This is the story of 2,600 of these men.
It is a story that could not have been told without some extraordinary help from the National Archives and Records Administration. We provided documentation of these soldiers' participation that brought long-delayed official recognition of their service.
The story begins in the grim European winter of 1944 - 45. In early December, shortages of infantry rifle replacements increased sharply, and the only untapped sources of readily available manpower were African American service units then in Europe.
Lt. Gen. John C. H. Lee, deputy to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, suggested using the African American servicemen as volunteer infantry replacements. Lee wanted to call for volunteers from the black troops, but Eisenhower, aware that the issue of racial integration in combat was still sensitive inside and outside the military, insisted Lee call for volunteers of both races.
In late December, the call went out. Since white units had already sent soldiers, the response came from black units, the ones Lee wanted in the first place. Within 2 months, almost 5,000 African American soldiers had signed up. Senior commanders feared that taking that many soldiers from their support duties might be disruptive, so the number accepted was capped at 2,600.
Early in January, the African American volunteers, who agreed to accept a reduction in grade so they would not outrank white infantrymen, underwent standard infantry conversion training. They were then organized into 53 platoons, each under a white platoon leader and sergeant, and dispatched to the field in either 1st Army or 7th Army. There, they fought as the war in Europe moved toward victory.
Of the men who survived, however, not one received official recognition for his combat service. With our help, that was corrected. Records were found for 763 of the 2,600 men, and 46 Bronze Stars were awarded, most posthumously. In addition, these 763 soldiers were reinstated to the same rank they had held before transferring to the infantry.
The stories of these men came to light as a result of a request from the Association of 2221 Negro Volunteers of World War II to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records, which then turned to NARA for help. In 1999, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Karl Schneider presented certificates of appreciation from the Board to NARA staffers Richard Boylan and Carolyn Powell for their help in finding the records. Their work was the latest in efforts by NARA over the years to help bring about long-overdue recognition to veterans.
After World War II, most books and movies reinforced the popular notion that only white GIs demonstrated courage and made sacrifices worthy of official praise and gratitude. It is only a half-century after President Harry S. Truman outlawed segregation in the armed forces that many black veterans have gained recognition. We are proud that NARA, in some small measure, has helped to heighten awareness of and correct this oversight.
Measuring Up: Performance Reporting at NARA
Are we fulfilling our mission of providing ready access to essential evidence? Are we achieving what we set out to do in our Strategic Plan? Are we meeting your needs? These are the questions we must answer each year in our Annual Performance Report.
Based on our Strategic Plan, Ready Access to Essential Evidence: The Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1997 - 2007, we developed our first Annual Performance Plan for fiscal year 1999. The Annual Performance Plan is organized around our 4 strategic goals and 20 long-range performance targets and contains 39 performance objectives against which we must measure our progress in reaching our goals. By March 31 of each year we must report to the President, the Congress, and the public on our results in our Annual Performance Report. The complete report is available at http://www.nara.gov/nara/vision/1999apr.html. Following are a few highlights of our progress.
Essential Evidence
The first goal in our plan is that essential evidence - documentation of the rights of American citizens, the actions of Federal officials, and the national experience - will be created, identified, appropriately scheduled, and managed for as long as needed. We must ensure that records are kept long enough to protect individual rights, assure Federal accountability, and document our common history and that we destroy records when they are no longer needed.
Our Strategic Plan recognized that the current process we use to determine how long records must be kept - what we call the scheduling process - is flawed and in need of a major overhaul. Our current process was developed primarily for paper records. In reality, today most records are created electronically and may be maintained in a variety of media. Federal agencies need to know how to manage the disposition of all documentation they create, regardless of media, in light of current recordkeeping practices.
Therefore, as outlined in our performance plan, in 1999 we began a scheduling reinvention project to define what should be the Federal Government's policies on determining the disposition of Federal records, the processes that will best implement those policies, and the tools that are needed to support the revised policies and processes. As a result of this project, we will be able to make the process to determine how long records must be kept more effective and efficient, thereby significantly increasing the numbers and kinds of records that are appropriately scheduled and managed for as long as needed.
Ready Access
Our second goal is that essential evidence will be easy to access regardless of where it is or where users are for as long as needed. Several performance objectives under this goal focus on customer service and facilitating communication with our customers. We have made it much easier for people, especially for anyone who is not close to one of our facilities, to electronically request and access our information and services. In 1999, for example, we responded to more than 95,000 email requests for our information and services. And users of Federal Register publications downloaded pages from our web site more than 137 million times.
If you wrote to us with a request about our archival holdings, 88.6 percent of the time we responded to you within 10 working days. If you made an appointment to look at records in one of our research rooms, 99.69 percent of the time your records were ready when you arrived. And if you attended one of our education programs, workshops, or training courses, 89.53 percent of the time you rated these programs as "excellent" or "very good." Each year, in these areas and others, we are committed to meeting or exceeding our customer service standards and making it as easy as possible for you to access the records and services you need.
Space and Preservation
Our third goal is that all records will be preserved in appropriate space for use as long as needed. In 1999 we developed facility standards for the storage of Federal records in records centers. Since the regulations were last updated in 1982, there have been a number of advances in sprinkler systems and other standards that may significantly improve the environment and general safeguards for Federal records. Because Federal records document individual rights, agency policies and actions, obligations of the Government, and our national experience, it is critical that we protect these records by having a minimum level of fire safety, security, and structural integrity for any facility storing Federal records. During the next year we plan to develop standards for the storage of Federal records in archival facilities as the next step in ensuring that all records are preserved in appropriate space.
Infrastructure
Our fourth goal is that NARA's capabilities for making the changes necessary to realize our vision will continuously expand. Here we focus on our technical capabilities, such as improving the effectiveness of our computer network infrastructure, as well as our personal capabilities. In the latter area in 1999 we developed, tested, and refined a pilot curriculum of courses for our staff. The first set of courses was aimed at helping supervisors and managers to be better leaders of people and better directors of programs. The second set of courses focused on universal competencies, such as customer service and oral and written communications skills, in which all staff should be proficient. The last set then focused on job-specific competencies linked to the accomplishment of our strategic goals. By undertaking this intensive staff development, we will be better able to meet the challenges of our Strategic Plan.
This is just a short list of some of the real progress we are making in fulfilling our mission, achieving our goals, and meeting your needs. Other examples of our progress can be seen throughout this Annual Report as well as in our complete Annual Performance Report. We welcome your comments on our performance plans and reports at vision@arch2.nara.gov.
NARA Managerial Staff
Archivist of the United States
John W. Carlin
Deputy Archivist of the United States
Lewis J. Bellardo
Assistant Archivist for Administrative Services
Adrienne C. Thomas
Assistant Archivist for the Federal Register
Raymond A. Mosley
Assistant Archivist for Human Resources and Information Services
L. Reynolds Cahoon
Assistant Archivist for Records Services - Washington, DC
Michael J. Kurtz
Assistant Archivist for Regional Records Services
Richard L. Claypoole
Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries
David F. Peterson
General Counsel
Gary M. Stern
Inspector General
I. Paul Brachfeld
Director, Information Security Oversight Office
Steven Garfinkel
Executive Director, National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Ann Clifford Newhall
Director of EEO and Diversity Programs
Joyce A. Williams
Director of Development
Naomi Revzin
Director, Communications Staff
Gerald W. George
Director, Policy and Planning Staff
Lori Lisowski
Director, Congressional Affairs
John Constance
Director, Public Affairs
Susan Cooper
NARA Facilities