One of these activities is information dissemination. NARA does not collect records - we accession them as a legal process that is part of the life cycle. Records are transferred to NARA from the originating agency, not a third party. And agencies execute transfer of legal custody to NARA when we accession the records. This chain of legal custody is critical for maintaining the authenticity and reliability of records as evidence.
Records are authoritative.
Their legal status as records is important. Government, citizens, businesses rely on records for documentation of rights and to carry out Government business. It is critical to be able to use the records in the future with that future day's technology to conduct current Government business. Agencies and NARA need to be able to guarantee the integrity of the record over time. Much of what we are doing with our research on the Electronic Records Archives has applicability to our life-cycle responsibility to assist agencies in ensuring that they can use their records over time.