A user study : (1994)

Congress, the courts, the presidency, and the executive branch, NARA has a crucial and unique place in this democratic society to guarantee the accountability of the Government to the American people and to protect individual rights and hbeities.NARA sei-ves both as a public sei-vice gateway between citizens and the records and ai'chives of then-Govemment, and as a central management agency that helps formulate national infonmation policy and assists Govemment organizations in the creation and maintenance of their records.As an archival and cultural institution, NARA accessions and makes available to the public Federal and Presidential records and related documentary materials of permanent value that document the origins and evolution of the United States Govemment and the history of the American people.As a central management agency, NARA establishes regulatory policies and procedures for records and information management, provides assistance to Federal agencies in managing their records, schedules agency records for eventual destruction or transfer to the National Archives, and stores non-current Federal records in Federal Records Centers.NARA also publishes the laws, Pi-esidential documents, regulations, and other official notices of the Federal Government.As a result of these vaiied roles, NARA possesses a wealth of information and record holdings about and from the Govemment and its activities beyond that contained in the records already accessioned into the National Archives.NARA's constituents include the Federal Govemment; a history-minded public; the media; the records and ai'chival communities; a broad range of professional associations and individuals interested in history, political science, the law, genealogy, and library, records, and information services; and, in many cases, citizens seeking to estabhsh and/or protect theii* legal rights and interests.NARA has an obligation to give citizens the Federal information they want in the most accessible manner possible so that citizens can protect their individual legal rights, monitor their Govemment, and make infomied decisions about national priorities.NARA also gives citizens the opportunity to learn about themselves, their heritage, and their Govemment.Whether a Vietnam veteran wants confirmation of exposure to defoliants in order to apply for veteran's benefits, a genealogist wants a copy of his great-great-great grandfather's bounty land waiTant, or a dry cleaner wants to know if the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a new mle on clean air standards, NARA maintains the infomiation and records they need.NARA is at the heart of the Federal government's information infrastmcture. NARA Information and HoldingsNARA is singular among the world's ai'chives as a unified Federal institution that accessions and preserves materials from all three branches of Govemment.NARA stores and makes available permanent Federal records.Presidential records, and related documentary materials through a national network of 15 ai'chival repositories and ten presidential libraries located in 15 states and the District of Columbia.NARA also administers special groups of records, including the John F. Kennedy Assassination collection, the Captured German Records collection, and the Richai'd M.Nixon Presidential Papers.Additionally, NARA maintains descriptions of records held in six affiliated ai'chives, which hold collections of records for which NARA has legal custody (e.g., the Militaiy Academy archives at West Point).NARA also operates a nationwide system of fourteen 2 Federal Records Centers located in twelve states.The records centers house and provide access to noncurrent Federal records for agencies, including both military and civilian personnel records.NARA also maintains inventories of records created or held by Federal agencies.The size and breadth of NARA's holdings are staggering.More than two million cubic feet of permanent Federal records were held by NARA at the start of FY 1992.The presidential libraries held over 167 million pages of additional permanent records, and over 17 million cubic feet of noncurrent Federal records were housed in the Federal Record Centers.Together, NARA's facilities hold close to 20 million cubic feet of original textual material documenting the activities of the Federal Government.In addition, NARA has extensive multimedia collections, including: 9 million aerial photographs, 7 million still pictures, more than 4 million maps, charts, and architectural and engineering plans, more than 310,000 motion picture, sound and video recordings, almost 300,000 microforms, and nearly 6,000 computer data sets.More than 300,000 research visits were made to NARA archival facilities in FY 1992 and staff responded to an additional 700,000 oral and written requests for records and information.Federal records center staff respond annually to more than three million requests for records and information.It is likely that NARA's holdings would be used by even more people if physical location were not an obstacle and if people were more aware of the wealth of records and information available through NARA.The physical location of records might not be of great importance if the indices, finding aids, and other available information about the records made it possible for the public, even from a distance, to locate specific records of interest and order copies.Unfortunately, customers find it difficult to locate the wealth of records and information available throughout NARA because of the variety of indices and finding aids created by NARA's organizational units.There are few automated information systems in use in NARA, and those that exist are fragmented and uncoordinated.Often customers who wish to use NARA records or information must visit a NARA repository or rely upon NARA staff to locate needed information. ChallengeCitizens and Federal agencies are placing ever-greater demands on NARA for information from Federal records and related holdings.NARA's organizational units manage vast information and records holdings that would be of use to many citizens and organizations if they were awai^e of their existence.It is at present unclear, however, what record and information holdings are most needed by the public and Federal agencies; how users could locate the desired infoiTnation; how, where, and when that infoiTnation should be delivered; and how much it would cost to make the * * * * * * secondary education, K-12, government employees, businessAaw/other professionals, information providers, agiiculturahsts, envu-onmentalists, and other.