December 15, 2014 

 

MEMORANDUM TO: File 

FROM: Anna Therese McGowan, Chief /RA/ 

 User Service Branch 

 Customer Service Division 

 Office of Information Services 

SUBJECT: ADAMS USER GROUP MEETING MINUTES, 

 NOVEMBER 5, 2014 

On Wednesday, November 5, 2014, the ADAMS User Group held its 28th meeting. This memo 

accompanies the summary of that meeting. 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Meeting Summary

 

November 5, 2014

Title: Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) User Group Meeting 

Meeting Identifier: ADAMS Accession No. ML14268A261 

Date of Meeting: Wednesday, November 5, 2014 

Location: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Public Document Room, Rockville, MD 

Type of Meeting: Category 3 

Purpose of the Meeting(s): 

To provide updates on the ADAMS system and answer questions from public ADAMS 

users.

General Details:

The meeting began at 2 p.m. with introductions and general announcements by Anna 

McGowan, Chief of the User Services Branch. Five NRC staff members and five 

members of the public attended. Ms. McGowan introduced Lee Wittenstein as a new 

member of the User Services Branch and mentioned that Karen Danoff had left the 

branch. She also announced that the NRC had awarded the Public Document Room 

reproduction contract to Best Copy and Printing, Inc., the incumbent, in September 

2014. The new contract started on October 1, 2014, and the prices will remain the same 

for the first year of the new contract.

Ms. McGowan announced that in March 2014, the Customer Service Division 

management decided to close the Public Document Room (PDR) to walk-in customers.

This was decided because an office reorganization reduced staff in the User Services 

Branch. The PDR is still available to those who call in advance to make an appointment.

During the remainder of the meeting, the staff discussed ADAMS User Group Member

issues and questions. The meeting ended at approximately 2:25 p.m.

Approximately five members of the public participated in the meeting, both in person and 

remotely through a teleconference line. Three public participants asked questions and 

provided comments. Public participants included representatives of AREVA, Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory, and Winston and Strawn.
2

Public Participation Themes:

During the public question and answer portion of the meeting, NRC staff received 

questions on the following topics. The NRC staff provided the following answers during 

the meeting or performed further research and provided answers below:

• Question topic: ADAMS search page

o A member of the public asked if the NRC logo on the ADAMS Search

page, http://adams.nrc.gov/wba/ , could be made into a hyperlink to the NRC 

home page. 

o The NRC User Services Branch staff has submitted a request to the ADAMS 

developers for this change. The ADAMS developers are researching whether 

this change can be made. If or when the change is made, it will be posted on 

the ADAMS frequently asked questions page at http://www.nrc.gov/readingrm/adams/faq.html .

• Question topic: ADAMS searching

o A member of the public asked if the ADAMS search function could be made 

more “forgiving” like Google, which offers suggestions if a search term is not 

spelled correctly.

o Ms. McGowan replied that a major change such as this is not possible due to 

the current level of ADAMS funding.

• Question topic: ADAMS accession numbers

o A member of the public asked why there are letters such as A and B in the 

ADAMS accession numbers.

o The NRC incorporated letters into the accession numbers to make it possible 

to add a larger number of documents to ADAMS each day.

 

Action Items/Next Steps:

• The next ADAMS User Group meeting will be in spring 2015.

Enclosure:

1. Meeting Agenda (ADAMS Accession No. ML14268A261)