The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) is a small grant-making agency affiliated with the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The Commission is charged with promoting the preservation and dissemination of documentary source materials to ensure an understanding of U.S. history. Recognizing that the increasing use of computers created challenges for preserving the documentary record, the Commission adopted a research agenda in 1991 to promote research and development on the preservation and continued accessibility of documentary materials in electronic form. From 1991 to the present the Commission awarded 31 grants totaling $2,276,665 for electronic records research. Most of this research has focused on two issues of central concern to archivists: (1) electronic record keeping (tools and techniques to manage electronic records produced in an office environment, such as word processing documents and electronic mail), and (2) best practices for storing, describing, and providing access to all electronic records of long-term value. NHPRC grants have raised the visibility of electronic records issues among archivists. The grants have enabled numerous archives to begin to address electronic records problems, and, perhaps most importantly, they have stimulated discussion about electronic records among archivists and records managers.
Publisher
Elsevier Science Ltd
Critical Arguements
CA "The problem of maintaining electronic records over time is big, expensive, and growing. A task force on digital archives established by the Commission on Preservation and Access in 1994 commented that the life of electronic records could be characterized in the same words Thomas Hobbes once used to describe life: ÔÇ£nasty, brutish, and shortÔÇØ [1]. Every day, thousands of new electronic files are created on federal, state, and local government computers across the nation. A small but important portion of these records will be designated for permanent retention. Government agencies are increasingly relying on computers to maintain information such as census files, land titles, statistical data, and vital records. But how should electronic records with long-term value be maintained? Few government agencies have developed comprehensive policies for managing current electronic records, much less preserving those with continuing value for historians and other researchers. Because of this serious and growing problem, the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a small grantmaking agency affiliated with the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), has been making grants for research and development on the preservation and use of electronic documentary sources. The program is conducted in concert with NARA, which in 1996 issued a strategic plan that gives high priority to mastering electronic records problems in partnership with federal government agencies and the NHPRC.
Phrases
<P1> How can data dictionaries, information resource directory systems, and other metadata systems be used to support electronic records management and archival requirements? <P2> In spite of the number of projects the Commission has supported, only four questions from the research agenda have been addressed to date. Of these, the question relating to requirements for the development of data dictionaries and other metadata systems (question number four) has produced a single grant for a state information locator system in South Carolina, and the question relating to needs for archival education (question 10) has led to two grants to the Society of American Archivists for curricular materials. <P3> Information systems created without regard for these considerations may have deficiencies that limit the usefulness of the records contained on them. <warrant> <P4> The NHPRC has awarded major grants to four institutions over the past five years for projects to develop and test requirements for electronic record keeping: University of Pittsburgh (1993): A working set of functional requirements and metadata specifications for electronic record keeping systems; City of Philadelphia (1995, 1996, and 1997): A project to incorporate a subset of the Pittsburgh metadata specifications into a new human resources information system and other city systems as test cases and to develop comprehensive record keeping policies and standards for the cityÔÇÖs information technology systems; Indiana University (1995): A project to develop an assessment tool and methodology for analyzing existing electronic records systems, using the Pittsburgh functional requirements as a model and the student academic record system and a financial system as test cases; Research Foundation of the State University of New York-Albany, Center for Technology in Government (1996): A project to identify best practices for electronic record keeping, including work by the U.S. Department of Defense and the University of British Columbia in addition to the University of Pittsburgh. The Center is working with the stateÔÇÖs Adirondack Parks Agency in a pilot project to develop a system model for incorporating record keeping and archival considerations into the creation of networked computing and communications applications. <P5> No definitive solution has yet been identified for the problems posed by electronic records, although progress has been made in learning what will be needed to design functional electronic record keeping systems. <P6> With the proliferation of digital libraries, the need for long-term storage, migration and retrieval strategies for electronic information has become a priority for a wide variety of information providers. <warrant>
Conclusions
RQ "How best to preserve existing and future electronic formats and provide access to them over time has remained elusive. The answers cannot be found through theoretical research alone, or even through applied research, although both are needed. Answers can only emerge over time as some approaches prove able to stand the test of time and others do not. The problems are large because the costs of maintaining, migrating, and retrieving electronic information continue to be high." ... "Perhaps most importantly, these grants have stimulated widespread discussion of electronic records issues among archivists and record managers, and thus they have had an impact on the preservation of the electronic documentary record that goes far beyond the CommissionÔÇÖs investment."
SOW
DC The National Historic Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) is the outreach arm of the National Archives and makes plans for and studies issues related to the preservation, use and publication of historical documents. The Commission also makes grants to non-Federal archives and other organizations to promote the preservation use of America's documentary heritage.
