ADAMS USER GROUP MEETING

July 20, 2005

1:00-3:00 p.m.

NRC Headquarters

Room O6 B4

Agenda for ADAMS User Group Meeting #11

1. Opening remarks - Tom Smith, Moderator (1:05-1:10 p.m.)

General announcements and introductions (1:10-1:15 p.m.)

2. Action items from the 01/12/05 meeting update (1:15-1:45 p.m.)

3. Technical issues related to ADAMS (1:45-2 p.m.)

4. How do the AUG members like the meeting schedule? Are the meetings frequent enough?

Would you like a change in format? Would virtual meetings meet your needs?

5. New business (2:55-3 p.m.)

6. Adjournment (3 p.m.) 

Meeting Minutes

1. Opening remarks - Thomas Smith, Moderator (1:05-1:10 p.m.)

Thomas Smith opened the meeting and introduced NRC staff present, including Francine

Goldberg, Chief of the Information and Records Services Division, Susan Johnson, Chief of the

Information Services Branch (includes ADAMS and the NRC Web site), Karen Stahl and

Marsha Ward in the Public Document Room, Greg Fabian in the Information Services Branch,

and KG Golshan in the Business Process Improvement and Applications Division. Mr. Smith

then asked the users on the telephone bridge to introduce themselves.

2. Action items from the 01/12/05 meeting update (1:15-1:45 p.m.)

(a) Is it possible to have the text of a FOIA request linked to the FOIA response? All too often

you can locate the response but cannot access the question. 

The head of NRC’s Freedom of Information team sees no reason why the NRC cannot

accommodate this request. NRC does not release the incoming request until after a response

is issued. If the request contains personal identifiers such as the SSN, the incoming letter may

be released in redacted form. NRC will work out the mechanics of how to best link the request

and response. One option is to include the following sentence in the comment section of each

response: The incoming FOIA/PA request is in ADAMS at MLxxxxxxxxx.

Mr. Smith said that this procedure was implemented after talking with the FOIA staff. The

change was made beginning in January 2005 shortly after the 10th AUG meeting. To find the

link, open the file of the initial response. An ML number for the original FOIA/PA request will be

found on the first page of Form 464, Part 1, in the Comment section. 
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(b) Can you discuss the slow display time for large documents in Web-based ADAMS? 

We plan to implement byte-serving for PDF files in Web-based ADAMS as soon as possible.

The feature only works for PDF files. NRC has begun converting large TIFF files into PDF

format. 

Mr. Smith said that the NRC has a little experience with byte-serving. So far the only known

downside to implementing byte-serving on Web-based PARS is the loss of the bold highlighting

on the search terms. NRC will be testing byte-serving to see how it works outside the firewall. 

Mr. Smith hopes to have more to report at the next AUG meeting. A user who has experience

with byte-serving noted that pop ups about document size appear on the screen.

( c ) At the last meeting Mr. Baker said that Web-based ADAMS access to PARS should be

available again by the end of January. He also said there was a plan to repopulate the public

ADAMS database. The documents to be reinstated would be reviewed in the following priority:

1. reactor related 2. hearing related 3. non-docketed (with sub-priorities within the group) and 4.

materials cases.

Mr. Smith said that the deadline was missed by a couple of days. He provided a brief

chronology of what was returned to the public server and when: 

• October 25, 2004: The Commission decided to suspend public access to

ADAMS and the staff started the Sensitive Information Screening Process

(SISP). Public access to the Electronic Hearing Docket and License Support

Network was also suspended.

• December 7, 2004: Access to most reactor-related documents was restored in

Citrix-based ADAMS.

• December 30, 2004: Access was restored to documents on proposed new

reactors and uranium enrichment facilities. 

• February 4, 2005: Access was restored to the Web-based ADAMS document

library.

• March 16-18, 2005: Access was restored to 29,300 WM-00011 HLW documents

(Yucca Mountain).

• June 2-16, 2005: A total of 67,012 non-docketed documents (including 25,633

packages) were restored to the PARS Library

• As of July 19, 2005, there are 256,189 records in PARS.

(d) Given the release of Version 7 of Adobe Acrobat software, what are the NRC’s plans with

respect to the use of Adobe Acrobat and ADAMS? When will NRC move to a post-Version 5

release of Adobe Acrobat?
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In January the group learned that the public server currently uses Adobe Acrobat Version 5.0. 

The NRC will upgrade to 6.0 in the near future. The NRC tries to keep the current version

running on ADAMS. Mr. Smith stated that NRC has used version 6.0 since the most recent

ADAMS upgrade and may upgrade to 7.0 soon.

(e) Discuss the results of the ADAMS Public Satisfaction Survey:

The AUG members were told that the objective of the survey was to determine whether ADAMS

meets the public’s information needs, whether the public prefers Citrix-based ADAMS or Webbased ADAMS, and whether the public has suggestions for system enhancements. The survey

results will be published in a semiannual a report on ADAMS.

The survey results for Citrix- and Web-based ADAMS have been released. The results were

released in the ADAMS Semiannual report. A link is available on the main ADAMS page in the

last bullet under More ADAMS Information. We plan another such survey in early 2006. 

(f) Discuss conversion of ADAMS’ TIFF files to PDF format.

As of June 2003, PDF file format is the standard for new documents added to ADAMS. 

Mr. Smith said a contractor should begin work soon on converting the remaining TIFF files to

PDF format. The Statement Of Work was recently sent to NRC’s Division of Contracts. The

goal is to have the conversion completed by the end of the calendar year (2005). 

(g) Discuss ADAMS upgrades

The NRC plans to deploy ADAMS Release 4.3 in Citrix-Based ADAMS later this year. 

The only major change for the public is a new viewer. The NRC also expects to release an

upgraded version of Web-based ADAMS by the end of the month. 

The ADAMS Publicly Available Records System (PARS) was successfully upgraded to Release

4.3.several weeks ago. The ADAMS 4.3 Software Upgrade included the following features:

New Viewer

There are some changes in the viewer user interface: a new menu structure, toolbar and

multiple document interface (viewing multiple documents simultaneously). An intermittent

viewer problem with displaying color pages has also been corrected.

ADAMS Find Tool

The enhanced Find tool enables users to stop and then resume displaying a search results list

by clicking on the Stop button to temporarily stop the display, then clicking on the Go button to

restart the list where it left off.

The Browse button on the Advanced Find screen has been deleted. To see and select from a

list of the values within a field, click on the drop-down arrow.
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Early next year we expect to release ADAMS 4.4. We do not yet know anything about the new

release.

 

Last minute questions:

(a) A user was having problems sizing the screen properly in Citrix. The user was not able to

see the number of documents found.

Mr. Smith recorded this as a technical action item that could be resolved within 48 hours.

(b) When a user saves documents in Citrix, the status bar disappears, so the downloading

process cannot be seen. The user does not know when the document has finished

downloading.

Mr. Smith will look into this. He said it might require a modification to the system.

Another user said that using the Copy To option might be better then using Save As for saving,

especially for larger documents.

( c ) A user asked why there are multiple screens for printing and why the first screen goes into

the second screen.

Mr. Smith will look into it.

3. Technical Issues related to ADAMS (1:45-2 p.m.)

(a) Future outage announcements

Mr. Smith discussed the future outage announcements for the NRC Web maintenance. The

first is scheduled for Saturday, July 23, 2005 between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. The second will be

during the weekend of July 30 and 31, 2005.

(b) Mr. Smith discussed the "security lock" for PARS documents. 

Several persons noted a lock on PDF documents in PARS, for example, the lock is on

ML051710058. The security information in internal ADAMS says that the public is only a

viewer. The patron cannot save or copy this document but only view it. The PDR staff could

save that document to the hard drive and open it there. An AUG member believes the public

should be able to view, copy, and save all documents in PARS.

Mr. Smith will try to contact the source for a ”locked” document to ask if the lock can be

removed and a new version of the document placed in ADAMS. He said the PDR staff tested

the document from home, and one staff member could view, download, and print

ML051710058. He will look into this further.

( c ) Discuss access to NUREG documents 
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Only a few reports are currently available online. Also, before ADAMS, NRC was maintaining a

full index of NUREG documents on line (even though often only abstracts were available). 

Since the transition to ADAMS, we have maintained a (very) partial index, so it is hard to know if

a specific NUREG even exists.

There are many full-text NUREG documents on the NRC web site and more are available in

ADAMS. The latter mostly date from November 1999 to the present, but some reports

published before that date have been retrofitted. Mr. Smith recommends searching the ADAMS

Legacy Library if the document was issued before November 1999. If ADAMS users cannot

find what they are looking for, they should contact the Public Document Room staff for search 

assistance.

Fran Goldberg recommended developing a process to backfit the NUREG best sellers from the

Legacy Library on request. She asked about statistics for NUREGs on the Web site vs. on

CD-ROM. She asked about prioritizing NUREGs, a public survey on people’s favorite

NUREGs, and an index (or database) for NUREGs on the Web site.

4. How do the AUG members feel about the meeting schedule?

Is semiannual frequent enough? Would members like a change in format? Would a virtual

meeting meet your needs?

In the past, we’ve addressed the issue of the ADAMS User Group and the best format might be

for members to ask questions and express concerns. We already have changed the schedule

from quarterly to semiannual. Do you want to continue having face-to-face meetings or would

you like to meet virtually? 

Comments from the user group:

(a) Have a virtual meeting through e-mail or an e-mail Listserv. This would allow all users to

know what is happening. The users agreed that an e-mail Listserv might be a better way to

communicate problems and issues. One user recommended we try a Listserv for 3 months to

see if people like it. 

Fran Goldberg said the agency will need to look into the Listserv option. This was recorded as

an action item.

(b) One user does not wait until the meeting to discuss ADAMS problems and issues. She

reports them to the PDR as soon as they come up.

( c ) One user said that the semiannual format is adequate. If issues arise in the interim

communication can be done through e-mail.

Fran Goldberg said that many documents had been restored recently. She asked how the

group felt about this. Has the review process been a problem? What is the seriousness or

urgency of this process for your work?

One user said she was grateful to see the newly restored documents come back, but retrieving
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some documents is still hit or miss. There are gaps in some of the new reactor documents and

the materials license documents. The user asked about the logic for restoring the documents.

Fran Goldberg said that the materials license documents would not all be restored. Some are

sensitive and not publicly available. Mr. Smith said that Docket 50 and 52 documents have all

been reviewed, but he will ask Bill Reckley (NRR) about it.

5. New business (2:55-3 p.m.)

Set a date for the next meeting

A date of January 18, 2006 was proposed. The AUG members would be consulted in advance

if the members wanted a meeting. A decision will be based on the reception of the Listserv.

6. Adjournment (3 p.m.)