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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
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Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration

Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy

Committee on Digital Archiving and the National Archives and Records Administration

Computer Science and Telecommunications Board

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Robert F. Sproull and Jon Eisenberg, Editors

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

Support for this project was provided by the National Archives and Records Administration under Contract No. NAMA-02-C-0012. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number 0-309-09696-0

Cover design by Jennifer M. Bishop.

Copies of this report are available from the
National Academies Press,
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Copyright 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Wm. A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. Wm. A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

COMMITTEE ON DIGITAL ARCHIVING AND THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

ROBERT F. SPROULL,

Sun Microsystems,

Chair

HOWARD BESSER,

University of California, Los Angeles

JAMIE CALLAN,

Carnegie Mellon University

CHARLES DOLLAR,

Dollar Consulting

STUART HABER,

Hewlett-Packard Laboratories

MARGARET HEDSTROM,

University of Michigan

MARK KORNBLUH,

Michigan State University

RAYMOND LORIE,

IBM Almaden Research Center

CLIFFORD LYNCH,

Coalition for Networked Information

JEROME H. SALTZER,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MARGO SELTZER,

Harvard University

ROBERT WILENSKY,

University of California, Berkeley

Staff

JON EISENBERG, Study Director and Senior Program Officer

STEVEN WOO, Program Officer (through August 2004)

DAVID PADGHAM, Research Associate

JENNIFER M. BISHOP, Senior Project Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD

JEANNETTE M. WING,

Carnegie Mellon University,

Chair

ERIC BENHAMOU,

Benhamou Global Ventures, LLC

DAVID D. CLARK,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

CSTB Chair Emeritus

WILLIAM DALLY,

Stanford University

MARK E. DEAN,

IBM Almaden Research Center

DEBORAH ESTRIN,

University of California, Los Angeles

JOAN FEIGENBAUM,

Yale University

HECTOR GARCIA-MOLINA,

Stanford University

KEVIN KAHN,

Intel Corporation

JAMES KAJIYA,

Microsoft Corporation

MICHAEL KATZ,

University of California, Berkeley

RANDY H. KATZ,

University of California, Berkeley

WENDY A. KELLOGG,

IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

SARA KIESLER,

Carnegie Mellon University

BUTLER W. LAMPSON,

Microsoft Corporation,

CSTB Member Emeritus

TERESA H. MENG,

Stanford University

TOM M. MITCHELL,

Carnegie Mellon University

DANIEL PIKE,

GCI Cable and Entertainment

ERIC SCHMIDT,

Google, Inc.

FRED B. SCHNEIDER,

Cornell University

WILLIAM STEAD,

Vanderbilt University

ANDREW J. VITERBI,

Viterbi Group, LLC

CHARLES BROWNSTEIN, Director

KRISTEN BATCH, Research Associate

JENNIFER M. BISHOP, Program Associate

JANET BRISCOE, Manager, Program Operations

JON EISENBERG, Senior Program Officer

RENEE HAWKINS, Financial Associate

MARGARET MARSH HUYNH, Senior Program Assistant

HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Scientist

LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Senior Program Officer

JANICE SABUDA, Senior Program Assistant

GLORIA A. WESTBROOK, Senior Program Assistant

BRANDYE WILLIAMS, Staff Assistant

For more information on CSTB, see its Web site at http://www.cstb.org; write to CSTB, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001; call at (202) 334-2605; or e-mail the CSTB at cstb@nas.edu.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

Preface

Just as its constituent agencies and other organizations do, the federal government generates and increasingly saves a large and growing fraction of its records in electronic form. Recognizing the ever-greater importance of these electronic records for its mission of preserving “essential evidence,” the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) launched a major new initiative, the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) initiative, in 1998. NARA subsequently requested that the National Research Council’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board conduct a two-phase study to provide NARA with advice as it develops the ERA program.

Phase one of the study resulted in the preparation of two reports by the Committee on Digital Archiving and the National Archives and Records Administration. The committee’s first report, Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for Initial Development,1 focused on design and engineering issues related to NARA’s Electronic Records Archives program. Also, the committee issued a letter report2 in October 2003 that elaborated on issues discussed in its first report, tying these issues specifically to NARA’s draft request for proposals for the ERA. Although some of the conclusions in these two reports relate to specific development initiatives and early design ideas, most of the

1  

National Research Council. 2003. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for Initial Development, Robert F. Sproull and Jon Eisenberg (eds.). The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C. The “Summary and Recommendations” chapter of the 2003 study is reprinted in Appendix B of the present report.

2  

National Research Council. 2003. “Letter Report on Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration.” The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., October 16. The letter report is reprinted in Appendix C of this report.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

observations about archive system design are not tied to these specifics and are intended to remain useful to NARA as it develops, refines, and iterates the ERA program.

This final report is the result of phase two of the study. Prepared by the same committee (see Appendix D for biographical information), it examines longer-term, more strategic issues related to electronic records archiving at NARA. These issues include technology and other trends that shape the context in which the ERA exists, the archival processes of the ERA itself, and the future evolution of the ERA system. This final report also discusses record integrity, which the committee’s first report did not address in detail.

The committee thanks the many people who made this report possible, although of course responsibility for the final result is its own. The support and assistance of the ERA program staff, especially Kenneth Thibodeau, Robert Chadduck, and Richard Steinbacher, are greatly appreciated. A number of individuals from NARA, other federal agencies, and the private sector, listed in Appendix A, provided valuable input to the committee during the course of its work. Jennifer M. Bishop, CSTB program associate, facilitated our work throughout the course of this project. David Padgham conducted background research and made a number of contributions to the committee’s reports.

Robert F. Sproull, Chair

Committee on Digital Archiving and the National Archives and Records Administration

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

Acknowledgment of Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

William Y. Arms, Cornell University,

Paul Conway, Duke University,

W. Bruce Croft, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,

Hector Garcia-Molina, Stanford University,

James Gray, Microsoft Bay Area Research Center,

Michael E. Lesk, Rutgers University,

Charles McClure, Florida State University,

Mark Seiden, MSB Associates, and

J. Timothy Sprehe, Sprehe Information Management Associates.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Robert

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
×

J. Spinrad, Xerox Corporation (retired). Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
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Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2005. Building an Electronic Records Archive at the National Archives and Records Administration: Recommendations for a Long-Term Strategy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11332.
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The federal government generates and increasingly saves a large and growing fraction of its records in electronic form. In 1998, the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) launched its Electronic Archives (ERA) program to create a system to preserve and provide access to federal electronic records. To assist in this project, NARA asked the NRC to conduct a two-phase study to provide advice as it develops the ERA program. The first two reports (phase one) provided recommendations on design, engineering, and related issues facing the program. This report (phase two) focuses on longer term, more strategic issues including technology trends that will shape the ERA system, archival processes of the ERA, and future evolution of the system. It also provides an assessment of technical and design issues associated with record integrity and authenticity.

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