Sunshine Week Forum Shines Light on NARA’s Role in Improving Access to Records
By National Archives News
WASHINGTON, March 25, 2025 — On March 19, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) celebrated Sunshine Week with the forum “Transparency and Access to NARA Records.”
The discussion among four NARA officials—which was streamed live on the National Archives YouTube channel—focused on the agency’s efforts to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in order to make records more discoverable in the National Archives Catalog, digitize its microfilm holdings, and improve its online experience for researchers.
Acting Chief Innovation Officer Jill Reilly moderated this year’s discussion with panelists Director of Digitization Denise Henderson, Director of Web Division Michael Knight, and Director of Digital Partnerships and Outreach Carol Lagundo.
Each panel participant oversees critical elements of the agency when it comes to providing and ensuring open access to NARA’s vast holdings, from digitization to online access to public engagement.
Increasing Access Through Artificial Intelligence, Partnerships, and Community Engagement
Lagundo spoke about how NARA is increasing access to records already available online through the careful use of AI, partnerships, and community engagement. The recently viral Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription Mission is the nexus of all three and demonstrates a collaboration with FamilySearch to use their AI tool to accelerate the progress of a Citizen Archivist mission.
“We ended up forming a partnership where we provided them with those [Citizen Archivist] completed transcriptions, and they used those to train their [AI] large language model,” Lagundo explained. “In turn, they processed the remaining almost two and half million images and gave that output to us so that we could add that to our Catalog.”
"I hope attendees enjoyed learning how NARA is leveraging artificial intelligence, partnerships, and community engagement to increase access to archival records," Lagundo added following the presentation.
Microfilm Digitization
Henderson’s presentation traced the origins of NARA’s microfilm program in the 1930s to current efforts to digitize the entirety of the collection and make it fully available online within the next few years. The agency holds over 268,000 rolls in the microfilm library alone and many more accessioned directly from agencies across the United States Government, including approximately 41,000 rolls of the 1960 census. Digitization of that series is underway in preparation for its release in 2032.
“We are making millions of archival records available online, connecting people to National Archives holdings, and impacting many areas of research and scholarship. We are leveraging the legacy of work already done by NARA employees,” Henderson said. “Decades of dedicated work went into preparing and filming records to expand access, and now we can build off of that work for the next generation to use and learn from.”
Archives.gov Redesign
Knight’s presentation provided insight into a future step in providing access to NARA records after digitization: the online experience. An Archives.gov redesign, the first since 2010, will include user-friendly navigation and enhanced search capabilities.
“Archives.gov plays a critical role in providing public access to records, educational resources, and other vital sources of information that enable people to explore our nation’s history,” Knight said. “We’re looking forward to redesigning the website over the next year, and providing new and improved features that will further enhance the experience of those that explore the site.”
Knight also discussed two recent records release projects and the web pages designed to make those records easier to access: The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection and Records Related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) at the National Archives.
Every year since 2016, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Ombuds, has planned an event to celebrate Sunshine Week, an annual nonpartisan, nationwide gathering of those in media, civics, and government. NARA traditionally participates in Sunshine Week by hosting a public forum that spotlights its mission: to preserve the records of the United States and provide access to them.
The forum can be viewed on YouTube at any time. Sunshine Week programs from previous years may also be found on the National Archives You Tube channel, and more information about the agency’s Sunshine Week programs are available on NARA’s website.
"The panelists did an excellent job highlighting the ways NARA is leveraging best practices along with emerging technology, including automation and artificial intelligence, to increase transparency and access to NARA's records online,” Reilly said. “Together, their presentations trace the path a paper record takes from digitization, through the Catalog, AI-enhancement, Archives.gov, and crowdsourcing, to the American people sharing the stories they find in the Archives."