But preservation efforts at the state and locallevel are haphazard. Congress is considering whether to extend the life of the National HistoricalPublications and Records Commission, which provides financial support tolibraries and archives across the country, including grants for electronicrecords preservation. Carlin, who as the nation's Archivist is also chairman of the commission,urged House members to keep the commission so it can continue its work ofpreserving non-federal records. One of the toughest problems for electronic archivists is keeping pace withtechnology. The change often makes it difficult or impossible to read records that arejust a few years old, she told the subcommittee.
Cost is another problem.
And the technical troubles are compounded by a severe shortage of archiviststrained to handle electronic records.