Annual Report 2002
The National Archives and Records Administration
Annual Report 2002
This annual report is available in two formats: HTML and PDF (2.2 MB). The HTML text appears below. Only the PDF version, however, contains the tables and charts listed under "Measuring Success: Performance Reporting at NARA," "Financial Operations," "Records Center Revolving Fund," and "National Archives Trust Fund and Gift Fund." If you do not wish to view the entire report in PDF, you may choose to view two smaller files that contain only "Measuring Success: Performance Reporting at NARA" (175 KB) and "Financial Reports" (356 KB).
"Many people know about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence . . . but few know the treasures held in the millions of feet of film, in the countless maps, and pictures, and letters. . . . Story after story is revealed from the work that is accomplished every day at the Archives - the incomparable truths, all telling and retelling what is the essential American journey."
Charles Guggenheim
(1924 - 2002)
President Emeritus, Foundation for the National Archives
Academy Award-winning Filmmaker
National Archives Customer
Contents
What Is the National Archives and Records Administration?
The Work We Do Is Vital to Our Democracy
Message from the Archivist of the United States
Records Tell the Stories of America
Message from the President of the Foundation for the National Archives
Special Achievements
Providing High-Quality Services to the Public
Meeting the Challenges of Electronic Records
Finding Yourself at the National Archives
Buildings of the Future to Preserve the Past
Creating the "National Archives Experience"
Measuring Success: Performance Reporting at NARA (Tables available in the PDF version only [175 KB])
Financial Reports (Available in the PDF version only [356 KB])
Financial Operations
Records Center Revolving Fund
The National Archives Trust Fund and Gift Fund
The Foundation for the National Archives (Available in the PDF version only [163 KB])
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, DC, to the West Coast, including 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.
The Work We Do Is Vital to Our Democracy
In a democracy, records matter.
For more than six decades, the National Archives and Records Administration has preserved and provided access to the records of the Federal Government for the American people. Without these records, we would not know or be able to understand our past. We would not be able to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions. We would not be able to claim our rights and entitlements. Without these records, we would no longer live in a democracy.
Our history and our rights are found not only in Constitutional amendments and Presidential proclamations, but also, for example, in veterans records of those who fought for our rights and immigration records of the people whose dreams have shaped our country. These records are as essential to the functioning of our democracy as the Bill of Rights.
In this report of the last year, you will find information on how we continue to ensure that the records we hold are preserved and available to you. For example, we continued the renovation of the National Archives Building and are preparing to launch a new, one-of-a-kind visitor experience - the National Archives Experience. We advanced the development of the Electronic Records Archives, which will enable us to preserve electronic records far into the future. We worked hand-in-hand with other Federal agencies to make strides in electronic Government initiatives and to redesign Government records management.
We worked closely with the Administration on the E-Government initiative, which is aimed at making it easier for citizens to receive high-quality service from the Federal Government, while reducing the cost of delivering those services. We moved forward construction projects at our facilities across the country that will allow us to better serve visitors to our regional archives and Presidential libraries. We opened the 1930 census records to patrons eagerly awaiting access to this information. And in everything we did, we strove to provide top-notch service to all our customers, especially the American public.
Every day, our employees work to advance the initiatives mentioned above and also perform the day-to-day tasks that allow us to provide ready access to the essential evidence of our Government. Staffers assist researchers in locating information, welcome visitors to the Presidential libraries, help Federal agencies manage their records, painstakingly preserve historic documents, and respond to hundreds of requests for specific records. They build partnerships to advance research into solutions for preserving electronic records, test and troubleshoot new systems designed to make more information accessible online, and develop and maintain web sites that bring the National Archives to the public. They fill the requests of veterans for copies of their service records, listen to audiotapes of voices from the past, and teach schoolchildren and adults alike the legacy of the Americans who came before us. Each day they do a job that is vital to the functioning of our Government.
At the National Archives and Records Administration, we work to ensure that anyone can have access to the records that matter to them. That is our mission, and our pledge to you, the American people.
John W. Carlin
Archivist of the United States
Records Tell the Stories of America
In a democracy, records matter.
The records held by the National Archives and Records Administration document our history as a nation and are the original sources of the American Story.
You can see the soul of America in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
You can see the passion of America in the arrest warrant of Susan B. Anthony, issued when she illegally cast a ballot in the 1872 Presidential election, and in the official program of the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King made his infamous "I Have a Dream" speech.
You can see the genius of America in Thomas Edison's patent application for the light bulb and the drawings of the Wright Brothers.
You can see the great lessons of America in the order to relocate Japanese Americans during World War II and the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education that ruled that racial segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional.
Finally, you can see the heart of America in the manifests of immigrant ships landing at Ellis Island and the military records of the men and women who served our country in the armed forces.
These are all the stories of our American democracy, and these stories are told through the records of the National Archives. It is the birthright of every American to have access to the records of their country and to explore for themselves the richness of our shared heritage.
Before the exhibit hall at the National Archives Building was closed for renovation in July of 2001, almost one million people a year came to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Many stood in awe as they read the very words penned by our forefathers so long ago, but too often left without an appreciation for the stories of America tucked away elsewhere in the building. This realization gave rise to an exciting and compelling new project - The National Archives Experience.
The National Archives Experience is, in essence, a journey through the history of America and its struggles and triumphs. Featuring "public vaults" that will permit visitors to experience more of our heritage as well as better understand the richness of the Archives, the Experience will share the story of our country with all who visit. (You can read more details of the National Archives Experience.)
As the dust begins to clear on the National Archives renovation, and the walls of the new exhibit area go up, the Foundation for the National Archives is committed to making this project not only a success but an experience that visitors will long remember. We believe that the National Archives Experience can have the power to teach us how our nation's past can become a living instrument for directing our nation's future. The challenge - and the opportunity - for all of us is to build a tribute to the American spirit that is reflected in the records of our nation. I hope you will join us on this journey.
Tom Wheeler
President of the Foundation for the National Archives
Providing High-Quality Services to the Public
At the National Archives and Records Administration, serving the public isn't just a part of our official mission. It's a way of life.
We give thousands of researchers access to information and specific records on everything from Presidential decisions to actions of the smallest Government agency.
We find documents for people so they can qualify for Government benefits such as Social Security.
We help families trace their roots back to the early days of our nation by providing census documents from 1790 on.
We show teachers how to tell our nation's story with original documents by giving them historical background and lesson plans.
We take students on tours of our Presidential libraries so they learn not only about the Presidents but the times in which they served.
We help veterans find their military records so they can receive their promised benefits and health care.
We do this in person at 33 locations around the country, on the telephone, and, increasingly, online through our web site, www.archives.gov.
In the past year, we improved our customer service skills across the board - fulfilling requests for documents more quickly, putting more research tools at your disposal, and providing new and better ways to search our holdings online.
We redesigned our web site, which is becoming a much busier place. About 25 percent of all our services are now available online, and we're increasing the amount of holdings accessible there. Now, we've made it more user-friendly so it's easier for you to find what you're looking for.
Our main page has links to general areas, such as the Research Room, the Exhibit Hall, or Presidential Libraries. Or you can use the drop-down menu in the upper right corner of every page, where there are direct links to several dozen of our most popular pages, such as Genealogy, Veterans' Service Records, Prologue Magazine, or Preservation. These links will always be on your screen to ease your navigation from one page to another.
Added to our web site this year was our new Archival Research Catalog (ARC), which replaced the NARA Archival Information Locator (NAIL). Now, if you want to do research in our holdings, you can read descriptions of more than 600,000 records on ARC even before you leave your home or office. Eventually, all of the holdings in the National Archives, including the regional archives and Presidential libraries, will be described in ARC.
In addition, we have online finding aids for the 1930 population census, which we opened to the public in April 2002. These finding aids allow you to determine which of the 2,667 rolls of census microfilm you will need to view to see your or your family's entry in the 1930 census. They are accessible at a special online address, http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1930/. The microfilm is available in Washington, DC, and at 13 locations around the country.
But research isn't the only thing you can do on our web site.
Because our premier exhibit site, the Rotunda of our National Archives Building in Washington, DC, is closed until September 2003 as part of the renovation of the building, we have improved and expanded online exhibits of some of our most famous holdings.
Now, you can find high-quality images of the Charters of Freedom - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights - online, along with historical information. Also online are versions of our most popular exhibits, "American Originals," "Picturing the Century," and "Treasures of Congress," as well as many exhibits from our Presidential libraries depicting our chief executives and their times.
Added to our online presence in September 2002 was a special feature called Our Documents: A National Initiative on American History, Civics, and Service, part of President George W. Bush's initiative to promote the teaching and appreciation of U.S. history. At its special web site at www.ourdocuments.gov, it focuses on 100 important documents in U.S. history, nearly all of which are in our holdings, and provides aids for teachers to use these milestone documents in their classes.
At our Office of the Federal Register, we also initiated a subscriber service for an online Federal Register table of contents and a web site providing access to all Federal rules open for public comment.
While we encourage you to visit us online, we have also improved our services and access to our holdings for those who phone us or visit one of our facilities.
Our staffs at the Presidential libraries have expanded access to more records from their holdings as they released nearly 200,000 pages of previously classified material. At the National Archives at College Park, we released nearly 500 hours of White House tapes from the Nixon administration - the largest release of Presidential tapes we've ever made. And the Reagan Library released 68,000 more pages of documents from the Reagan administration under the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
Overall, we are responding promptly to your requests for information or documents. Last year, for example, when you wrote to us with a request about our archival holdings, 93 percent of the time we responded within 10 working days. And if you made an appointment to come in and look at some records in our holdings, 99.8 percent of the time those records were ready for you.
Our National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, which has files of U.S. military veterans dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, has been re-engineering the way it handles requests for those files. During fiscal year 2002, NPRC reduced its backlogged cases by 60,000 and greatly decreased the response time on most requests for copies of a veteran's military separation document (DD 214), which is used to determine eligibility for Government benefits and employment.
And, for the first time, veterans can now submit requests to NPRC through a web-based, interactive inquiry program.
At all our locations we have installed personal computers to give you access to the Internet as part of your research visit. We are also installing a new telephone system nationwide to make it easier to connect you to the right staffer when you call one of our locations for assistance.
We're proud of the customer services we provide and the gains we've made in improving them. But don't take our word for it. The San Francisco Weekly, for example, cited our Pacific Region archives in San Bruno, CA, as one of the "Best of San Francisco 2002." It recently wrote:
"If all public servants did their jobs half as well as the staffers of NARA, we would be a much more efficient, better informed, and significantly less frustrated citizenry."
That's what we like to hear, as we continue to strive to better serve all our customers.
To find out more. . .
* For questions about our holdings or to order a publication or check on the status of an order, call 1-866-272-6272. You can also ask questions by email at inquire@nara.gov.
* For information on how to do research at any of our facilities, go to www.archives.gov/research_room/index.html.
* For information about military service and pension records, go to www.archives.gov/research_room/
obtain_copies/veterans_service_records.html.
* To visit our improved online Exhibit Hall, go to www.archives.gov/exhibit-hall/index.html.
* To see enhanced, online images of our most treasured documents, go to www.ourdocuments.gov.
* To learn about and subscribe to Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration, go to www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/index.html.
Meeting the Challenges of Electronic Records
For many years, Federal Government records were created on paper and stored in files and boxes with the National Archives and Records Administration.
But this is the 21st century.
Now, electronic records are created by Government at an astounding rate, challenging us to find ways to manage and preserve them.
To meet these electronic challenges, we are at work on several fronts.
In 2002, we became a key player in E-Government. It's part of President Bush's management agenda aimed at delivering high-quality Government services while reducing the costs of doing so.
We direct one of 24 Government-wide initiatives, the Electronic Records Management (ERM) initiative, which will provide guidance to agencies in managing and transferring to us, in an increasing variety of data types and formats, their permanent electronic records.
During 2002, we enlisted partner agencies, developed a detailed plan for accomplishing our objectives, and issued our first guidance - on transferring email records to NARA.
ERM represents a first step toward achieving Government-wide electronic records management. Its ultimate success is linked to the success of two other NARA strategic initiatives: the Records Management Initiatives (RMI) and the Electronic Records Archives (ERA).
Our RMI seeks to change a records management program that was developed in the 20th century - in a paper environment - but has not kept up with a government that now creates and uses most of its records electronically.
In 2002, based on a recordkeeping report we commissioned and an intensive look at our policies, we developed a proposal for a redesign of Federal records management. It outlines possible strategies to make managing records less burdensome and more effective.
We are now testing several of these strategies, including a way to prioritize records management assistance to agencies based on three criteria: risk to the records, the presence of rights and accountability records, and the presence of permanent records. We're also testing alternative, more flexible ways to approve the preservation or destruction of records.
Our other initiative is the development of the ERA, where the Government's electronic records will be managed, preserved, and made accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
ERA will allow us to implement the results of ERM and RMI. It will also give us the means to preserve and provide sustained access to Federal electronic records of archival value and make it possible for Government to economically store and retrieve temporary records that must be maintained for many years.
In 2001 and 2002, thanks to support from Congress and the Administration, we added the NARA staff and contractors necessary to get the infrastructure of the program in place. They'll have help, too, for over the past few years, we've established partnerships with other Federal agencies, universities, state and local governments, corporations, and other organizations. In 2002 we added as partners the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Computational Science Alliance at the University of Illinois.
In 2004 we plan to contract for the design and development of the ERA. The results will be scalable so they can be used by other Federal agencies, state and local governments, libraries, colleges and universities, and historical organizations.
There really is no alternative to responding to the challenges electronic records present. If we don't, they will be lost forever. ERM, RMI, and ERA are helping us meet those challenges.
To find out more. . .
* The Electronic Records Management E-Government initiative is described in detail at www.archives.gov/records_management/
initiatives/erm_overview.html.
* The Records Management Initiatives are discussed at www.archives.gov/records_management
/initiatives/rm_redesign_project.html.
* For complete background on the Electronic Records Archives program, go to www.archives.gov/electronic_records_archives/index.html. There are links there to our ERA partners and related information.
Finding Yourself at the National Archives
Ready to collect Social Security benefits she had looked forward to for years, Violet Steiding was shocked when she was told she would not get them unless she proved she was a U.S. citizen.
She had been born in Canada but grew up in Washington State thinking she was a U.S. citizen.
So she turned to us. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has in its holdings U.S. census, military, and immigration records; passenger lists; pension files; and many other records used in genealogical research.
Her first stop was the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA, a NARA facility only a few minutes from her home.
"I was upset to the point of hysteria," Steiding recalled. The library referred her to NARA's Pacific Region records services facility in Laguna Niguel, CA, where our staff went to work on her case.
Both Steiding's parents' families came from Russia to the United States in the early 1900s and settled in North Dakota, so a call was placed to our Rocky Mountain Region in Denver, then to our Central Plains Region in Kansas City, MO, then to the North Dakota Historical Society.
The society's records showed that Steiding's father's family, Mayer, was naturalized in 1905, with her father, August, then a child, as a "derivative" naturalization. Her mother's family, Wagner, moved on to Canada, becoming Canadian citizens. Steiding's mother had married her father in North Dakota in 1920, but she was called to Canada in the 1920s to help with a family illness. Steiding's father and two brothers eventually followed, and five more children, including Violet, were born in Canada.
Our Pacific-Alaska Region in Seattle, asked to determine Steiding's family's return entry into the United States, worked with our Old Military and Civil Records unit in Washington, DC, which has border immigration records. They showed that her mother and father's entry had been through Blaine, WA, in September 1941 and that her mother had become a U.S. citizen in 1920 by marrying her (naturalized) father - a route to citizenship permitted until 1922.
That gave Steiding the proof that she was a U.S. citizen because both her parents were.
"The people at the Archives were wonderful to me," she said later. "They're worth every penny that they're paid."
Steiding's case allowed us to tap into our vast holdings of records nationwide that trace the lives of individuals and families, and in 2002, we made more of those records more accessible to Americans.
On April 1, 2002, we opened the 1930 population census in our research rooms around the country. Interest was so great that researchers arrived at midnight March 31 at some locations. The 1930 census provided a snapshot of America at a pivotal point in history, as the Roaring Twenties was ending and the Great Depression was beginning.
We also made progress in our 5-year project to microfilm and make available nationwide the records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, a major source of genealogical information for African American families. So far, records for the District of Columbia, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas as well as marriage records that were in the bureau headquarters are now available.
Helping people like Violet Steiding and others looking for information about their family trees are daily occurrences at our facilities nationwide. And we are just delighted to accept Steiding's "great big hug and thank you!"
To find out more . . . .
* Our Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives is available in an extensively revised and expanded third edition. For details, call 1-866-272-6272 or check with NARA publication shops in Washington and College Park or other NARA facilities around the country. (See list, page 38.) For more about our publications, go to www.archives.gov/publications/index.html.
* For more background on the Freedmen's Bureau project, go to www.archives.gov/publications/prologue
/summer_2002_freedmens_bureau.html.
* To learn more about the 1930 census and how to get information from it, go to http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1930/.
Buildings of the Future to Preserve the Past
Modern, well-equipped facilities that are safe and accessible for our customers are vital to preserving and making available our nation's records for future generations of Americans.
That's why we at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are upgrading our facilities around the country to provide adequate storage and ensure proper environmental conditions for our holdings.
Our biggest construction project is the $110 million renovation of the historic 68-year-old National Archives Building, which will house one of the most exciting visitor experiences in Washington, DC.
The Rotunda of the building is being readied for the September 2003 return of the Charters of Freedom - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights - which are now undergoing conservation work before being placed in new state-of-the-art encasements. The Rotunda and new adjacent exhibit space will compose portions of the National Archives Experience, a dramatic and powerful project that will inspire people of all ages to discover and explore the stories and history of America.
We are building new street-level wheelchair-accessible entrances along Constitution Avenue that lead to a new lobby, where people will begin their visit. On the Pennsylvania Avenue side, we are constructing a new research center. The building is also having its systems upgraded or replaced and brought into compliance with Federal accessibility standards.
Meanwhile, we have major construction projects at other facilities around the country.
Near Atlanta, a new Southeast Regional Archives is being built next to the campus of Clayton College and State University on a site that will also host the new Georgia state archives - the first partnership of a Federal and state archives and a college or university. It will replace the World War II depot in East Point, GA, that now houses our regional archives.
New facilities for our Records Center Program are being built near other centers in Dayton, OH, and Kansas City, MO, and are scheduled to open in 2003.
At the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, NY, a new visitors' center, due to open in fall 2003, will house orientation exhibits and a welcoming film, and a renovated library will have more exhibit space. The Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, MI, is adding temporary exhibition space, an education center, and an interactive replica of the cabinet room, scheduled to open spring 2004.
The Eisenhower Library in Abilene, KS, opened a new Presidential gallery and a new cold storage area to preserve historical film. At the Kennedy Library in Boston, the front entry plaza and several roofs were replaced to eliminate leakage problems.
The Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA, is adding space for a temporary exhibits gallery, a Presidential Learning Center, a conference room, and a new cafe. It's due to open in spring 2004. An expansion at the Truman Library in Independence, MO, has added new galleries, a video theater, and rooms for the new White House Decision Center for students.
The Clinton Library, now being built by the Clinton Presidential Foundation in Little Rock, AR, will become part of NARA when it's completed in 2004.
Just as the records we hold form the foundation of our democratic republic, so too do the brick and mortar buildings in which they are preserved. And in all our facilities nationwide, we are improving security for our holdings, our staff, and our customers even as we provide new and improved ways to study our nation's past.
To find out more. . . .
* For the locations, telephone numbers, and web sites of our facilities nationwide, see page 38 or go to www.archives.gov/facilities/index.html on the World Wide Web.
* More information about the renovation of the National Archives Building and the Rotunda.
* Learn more about the National Archives Experience.
Creating the "National Archives Experience"
Over the last 50 years, millions of visitors have climbed the Constitution Avenue steps to the National Archives Building in Washington, DC.
They have made the pilgrimage to the Rotunda to see the Charters of Freedom - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. They have stood within the same structure where many millions of documents and photographs and films are kept. They have walked only a few yards from where famous authors and filmmakers conduct original research to make American history. They have been just around the corner from the records of their own grandparents.
Nonetheless, these visitors often have only a vague notion of where they are or what discoveries lie just beyond the Rotunda wall.
We're planning to change that by letting visitors see us in a new way. The National Archives Experience will take visitors on a journey from the Charters into the much wider world of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the human stories that our records tell.
The core of the National Archives Experience is the Rotunda - home of the Charters of Freedom. Since July 2001 the Charters have been off display, undergoing conservation treatment and being installed in new encasements, while the Rotunda has been renovated. The Rotunda will be rededicated, with the Charters in place, on Constitution Day, September 17, 2003.
Surrounding the Rotunda will be something new-the Public Vaults, a permanent, interactive exhibit that takes visitors "inside" NARA. The spine of the exhibit is the Record of America hall, containing dozens of original records - from George Washington's letters to Congress to the first Presidential web site. The hall is being designed to simulate the look and feel of walking though the stacks of the Archives.
Individual vaults, drawing their themes from the Preamble to the Constitution, branch off of the Record of America hall. For example, in We the People, you can turn the panels to find out why NARA may have records of your family. In To Form a More Perfect Union, you can hear a congressional debate and cast your vote. In Provide for the Common Defense, you might use records to recreate a mini-documentary on D-day 1944.
And the Public Vaults are just the beginning.
The National Archives Experience will also have a new 275-seat theater. By day, it will continuously show a film on the relationship of records and democracy. By night, it will show documentary films - many from our vast film archives - and host debates on public policy. A Special Exhibition Gallery will feature document-based exhibits on timely topics or visiting exhibitions from Presidential libraries and other sources. A Learning Center will help students, as well as their parents and teachers, use our rich resources either through on-site workshops or distance learning.
For visitors who cannot come to our building, the National Archives Experience will have a component on the Internet, which will recreate much of the excitement of visiting us in person well as serve as a link to our important records, many of which can be viewed online.
Regardless of which part of the National Archives Experience makes the most lasting impression on visitors, they will take home a deeper understanding of the importance of records and the way that records of our government, starting with the Charters of Freedom, shape our future as well as our past.
To find out more. . .
* Learn more about the Charters of Freedom.
* Read about the National Archives Experience.
* You can help make the National Archives Experience a reality. Contact the Foundation for the National Archives at 202-208-0693 or go to www.archivesfoundation.org.
Measuring Success: Performance Reporting at NARA
(Tables available in the PDF version only [175 KB])
Everyone at the National Archives and Records Administration is dedicated to ensuring that we achieve our mission while providing the best possible service to our customers.
Our agency's guidepost, Ready Access to Essential Evidence: The Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1997 - 2007 (Revised 2000), describes broadly the goals and strategies we are pursuing to meet our mission. We expand on those goals and strategies in our annual performance plans, which detail performance objectives and expectations each year.
This is our fifth year of more rigorous performance measurement, and we have learned many lessons to help us improve the way we measure our performance. We understand that by measuring our performance regularly we can better predict our future performance, which allows us to use our resources where they will be most efficient and beneficial to you, our customer. The following are some of our 2002 performance highlights.
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, and appropriately scheduled and managed for as long as needed. Our duty is to ensure that records are kept long enough to protect individual rights, assure Federal accountability, and document our history, and that we destroy records when they are no longer needed.
We have seen a dramatic change in the look of Federal records over the last several years: while our current processes were developed primarily for paper records, today's records are mostly created through electronic means and maintained in a variety of media. We have several projects under way to examine potential improvements in the way records - especially electronic records - are managed throughout their life and how long they should be kept.
The Electronic Records Management E-Government Initiative, for which NARA is the managing partner, is part of the Administration's management agenda aimed at making it simpler for citizens to receive high-quality service from the Federal Government, while reducing the cost of delivering those services. It is one of 24 initiatives under e-Government. Records management is an important part of the infrastructure that will make e-Government work. This year we published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that addresses additional transfer methods. We also released the first of three new transfer requirements for e-record formats. These efforts will facilitate the transfer of electronic records to the National Archives for preservation and future use by government and citizens.
Since 1999, Targeted Assistance has put NARA in partnership with more than 75 Federal agencies on more than 300 projects to help them resolve records management issues before they become problems.
NARA records analysts work directly with Federal agency records officers and program managers to help guide agency recordkeeping practices throughout the life cycle of a record.
In addition to helping agencies now, we have proposed changes in the policies and processes related to the disposition of records through our Records Management Initiatives. NARA records system analyses and the Report on Current Recordkeeping Practices within the Federal Government laid the groundwork for us to review and revise the Government's policies for determining the disposition of records, processes that will best implement these policies, and the tools needed to support revised policies and processes. We developed a proposal for a dramatic redesign of Federal records management, which was reviewed by Federal agencies and other NARA stakeholders.
We are now testing prototype policies and processes to make the records scheduling process 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 to ensure that essential evidence will be easy to access regardless of where it is or where users are for as long as needed. More than ever, our customers expect to be able to access NARA records and services without having to visit a NARA facility. For that reason, we continue to set aggressive goals to make increasingly more of our services available to our customers over the Internet. About 25 percent of our services are now available online. One of those services is to give our customers the ability to find out about our holdings via the Internet.
People who want to do research in our collections can search more than 600,000 descriptions of our records through our Archival Research Catalog, which debuted to the public in September 2002. Customers visiting NARA facilities are now able to access the Internet for their research via newly installed personal computers.
We expanded our electronic services by redesigning our web site, making it easier to navigate and maintain. While the Rotunda and Exhibit Hall at the National Archives Building are closed to the public during renovations, our web site is providing an important informational function to the public and was visited nearly 20 million times this year.
After 4 years of preparation, the 1930 Federal census was opened to much press fanfare and made available to the public on microfilm at NARA research rooms around the country. We began a multiyear effort this year to microfilm the Records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau) from the Reconstruction era, which contain a great deal of information about the African American family experience. This year we met our target by microfilming the records of three states.
Several performance objectives under this goal focus on customer service and facilitating communication with our customers.
If you wrote to us with a request about our archival holdings, 93 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, 99.8 percent of the time your records were ready when you arrived.
And if you attended one of our education programs, workshops, or training courses, 96 percent of the time you rated these programs as "excellent" or "very good."
Each year, in these areas and others, we try to do better than we did the year before. 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 and expect.
Space and Preservation
Our third goal is that all records will be preserved in appropriate space for use as long as needed. The records of our nation have been entrusted to our care, and the work we do now will ensure the documentation of our past will be preserved and protected for our grandchildren and their grandchildren in the future.
We undertook extensive renovations of the National Archives Building and the re-encasement of America's Charters of Freedom - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. When renovations in the Rotunda are complete in 2003, all visitors will be able to view the Charters with ease and without assistance.
Some of the Presidential libraries completed face-lifts this year. We finished renovations at the Truman Library and completed work to renovate the Presidential gallery at the Eisenhower Library, while work at the Roosevelt, Reagan, Ford, and Kennedy libraries continued.
We established a preservation program for veterans' records housed in St. Louis, where we have added staff for the program. We completed a preservation project to duplicate 14,500 reels of microfilm containing Air Force flight records. We also have completed a preservation project to inventory, evaluate the condition of, and re-house 11,397 microfilm reels of Army and Air Force unit organizational records from 1912 to 1964. Around the country, since 1999, we have preserved more than 74,000 cubic feet of at-risk textual and nontextual records located in NARA facilities.
Also, we took important steps toward building and acquiring an Electronic Records Archives, where the records of digital government will be managed, preserved, and made available to anyone, anywhere, anytime. We established a program office for the ERA and used an Integrated Product and Process Development model for developing the initial ERA requirements, a concept of operations, an analysis of our alternatives, and an ERA Capital Asset Plan business case.
Infrastructure
Our fourth goal is that NARA's capabilities for making the changes necessary to realize our vision will continuously expand. We continue to focus on our technical capabilities, such as improving the reliability and security of our computer network infrastructure and improving our telephone system.
Likewise, we have worked to improve employees' personal effectiveness and to ensure that each employee has the skill sets necessary to competently perform his or her work. We reached 86 percent of our target to have the performance goals of each employee tied directly to NARA's strategic goals. By doing this, each employee can see exactly where he or she fits in the organization and how their work directly contributes to our goals.
We also began an effort this year to create individual development plans for all staff that tie directly to our strategic goals. We believe employees perform more effectively when they understand how their work contributes to the success of our Strategic Plan and when their plans for personal development target specific NARA strategic goals.
These are just a some of the many efforts we are making in fulfilling our mission, achieving our goals, and meeting your needs. Other examples of 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@nara.gov.
To find out more. . .
* Ready Access to Essential Evidence: The Strategic Plan of the National Archives and Records Administration, 1997 - 2007 (Revised 2000) can be found on our web site at www.archives.gov/about_us/strategic_planning_and_reporting/
2000_strategic_plan.html.
* The Archivist's 2002 State of the Archives speech is available at www.archives.gov/about_us/archivists_speeches/
speech_12-3-02.html. Links to other important NARA statements are available at www.archives.gov/welcome/index.html.
* Read our performance plans and reports at www.archives.gov/about_us/strategic_planning_and_reporting/
annual_performance_reports.html. And send us your comments at vision@nara.gov.
Presidential Libraries
Archivist of the United States
John W. Carlin
Deputy Archivist of the United States and Chief of Staff
Lewis J. Bellardo
Assistant Archivist for Administrative Services
Adrienne C. Thomas
Director of 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
Thomas Mills
Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries
Richard L. Claypoole
General Counsel
Gary M. Stern
Inspector General
Paul Brachfeld
Director, Information Security Oversight Office
J. William Leonard
Executive Director, National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Max J. Evans
Director of EEO and Diversity Programs
Robert Jew
Director, Policy and Communications Staff
Lori A. Lisowski
Director, Congressional and Public Affairs
John Constance
Director, Public Affairs
Susan Cooper