In 1998, we initiated the systematic digitization and online publication of DDRS . We scanned and keyed the text of every page of every document in the collection, which we will offer in its entirety by June 1999. An advisory panel of government documents librarians, journalists, diplomats and academic experts in American history, foreign policy, international relations and economics has begun supplementing the documents we receive via researcher requests with selections based upon current trends in research. We will begin integrating these selected documents in the online offerings in April 1999. DDRS makes possible both broad-based and highly targeted investigation of government documents.
Users can query every document in the database for any name, date, word or phrase.
Searches can also be focused according to document type, issue date, source institution, classification level, date declassified, sanitation, completeness, number of pages, and document number. The database ranges from the years immediately following World War II, when declassified documents were first made widely available, through the 1970s. While such access to government documents is unprecedented, the nature of the documents themselves has resulted inevitably in some limitations. Created without the intention of publication, the memoranda, reports, cables and letters that constitute the collection consist of typed pages, many with stamps, scribbles, and smudges. The result is uneven, obscure, and at times illegible text that could not be keyed accurately if at all.