More on NASA and governmental archives

As you may remember, I had a snafu in a post on NASA, NASA’s records, and the original video of the moon landing. For those who don't want to go back and read it, I followed the information in an article that said that NASA had no historian. I was wrong, badly. In response, I corrected the post and promised more information.

Happily, I got an email from Maarja Krusten, a Federal historian and former NARA employee about my original blog entry. She clarified for me much about Federal records and Federal archiving. With her permission, I’m posting a long excerpt here.

PS 17 August: Before you read on, here is a NASA statement on the tapes. Again, thanks to Maarja.

Here are Maarja Krusten's comments. They comprise the rest of this posting:

I don't put much reliance on the Telegaph story's reference [The story I linked to in the earlier post] to people starting to look through the"archives." To a layman, any old records, wherever they may reside within an organization, would comprise an"archives." Reporters often use this terminology in a mushy way. You'll notice that the newspaper refers to a coalition of scientists and engineers starting to comb through"archive" materials to look for the missing footage. That tells me it was not part of NASA's :historical reference collection;" had it been, historians and perhaps contract archivists would have been doing the searching.

However, according to what I've found by doing searches on its public website, NASA presently appears to rely on some contract archivists. See http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/iso_docs/doc/H_OWI_1070_I_018_Ba_.doc which explains their role. Note that this document refers to an historical reference collection at NASA HQ which is made up of" copies of Federal records." That makes sense to me. It sounds to me as if the originals of permanent Federal records are supposed to go to NARA, where researchers such as you would have access to them. Parts of NASA's historical reference collection also appears to be open to the public.

Most Federal agencies don't have archivists. They are not required to, probably because permanent Federal records (which archivists process, reading them to decide what can be released and what requires restriction) are supposed to go to NARA. All Federal agencies have records managers, however. This is a different profession than archivist. Records managers deal with all records an agency creates, from cradle to grave, not just the permanent ones (which form a tiny percentage of any agency's records).

At NASA, the records managers report to the Chief Information Officer. See http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PR_1441_001D_&page_na me=main for the pertinent policy guidance. This explains the responsibility of the records management function. You'll see a passing mention of the Historian. .This is typical -- most Federal departments and agencies that choose to employ historians rely on records managers to manage agency records but ask them to consult with historians, as needed. Not all agencies have historians, unfortunately, especially in these days where civil agency budgets are very tight.

"a. The NASA Chief Information Officer (CIO) has ultimate responsibility on behalf of the Administrator and the Agency for oversight and management of the records management function. The NASA CIO is accountable for the establishment and maintenance of an active, continuing program for economic and efficient management of NASA records.

b. The NASA Center Directors and the Director for Headquarters Operations are responsible for implementation of effective records management programs at their Centers and designation of a Center Records Manager and a Vital Records Manager. The NASA Center Directors shall ensure that organizations generating statements of work for contracts include appropriate records management requirements to comply with this NPD and its authorities in all NASA contracts involving creation or maintenance of Federal records.

c. NASA Center CIO's are responsible and accountable, in coordination with their Center Records Manager, for electronic records management implementation in accordance with 36 CFR 1234 and ensuring incorporation of records management and archival functions into the design, development, and implementation of information systems.

d. Officials-in-Charge of Headquarters Offices and NASA Center Directors are responsible for implementing the NASA records management functions within their respective organizations by ensuring the designation of organizational Records Liaison Officers who will coordinate with the Center Records Manager who will, in turn, coordinate with the Agency Records Officer as appropriate.

e. The NASA Historian and history representatives at NASA Centers, in coordination with the Center Records Managers and the Agency Records Officer, are responsible for providing guidance on the disposition of historical records or specialized collections of NASA or non-NASA records with historically significant value, consistent with the authorities cited in paragraph 3 of this NPD.

f. The Agency Records Officer is responsible for overall management and control of the Agency Records Management program, including management of Agency records from creation to final disposition, effective communication with NARA officials and Center Records Managers, development and maintenance of Agency Records Management policies and guidelines, and ensuring that adequate records management training is provided to Agency personnel.

g. Center Records Managers are responsible for overseeing a records management program in their respective Centers, coordinating the activities of Records Liaison Officers within their Centers, and providing advice on the management of records throughout their full life cycle, including appropriate and adequate storage, and proper scheduling and disposition of records. Additionally, they are responsible for consulting with Records Liaison Officers and Center employees regarding their responsibilities and communicating regularly and effectively concerning updates, changes, and issues in records management and electronic records with customers, Records Liaison Officers, and the Agency Records Officer."

I hope this helps. My guess would be that the Apollo tape was used at Goddard years ago, then set aside somewhere, and no one from the Records Management staff ever followed up with the users to ensure that it went back to the Federal Records Center (if eligible) or into NARA's holdings (if eligible). As time went on, everyone might have forgotten that the item had been pulled back from NARA and was supposed to be returned there.

I'm sure this sort of thing happens with records created on campuses, as well. For a link to a Wisconsin records management program, with references to the state public records requirements, see http://archives.library.wisc.edu/RM/rechome.htm -- best I could find for a random university via Google . . . . I doubt everything that is supposed to be kept as archival reaches an academic archival repository.

At a Federal agency, it would be the responsibility of the records management staff, not an agency archivist, to do the transfer paperwork to pull materials back from NARA or to return them to it. The records managers would be the official Point of Contact with the National Archives. I guess this story just reinforces that NARA is the safest location to place Federal records. Of course, it has the proper climate control at its facilties. The age of the record at the time would have determined which of two NARA facilities it should be gone to.

Speaking of NARA, I'm very worried about its budget outlook. I guess you've heard that NARA faces a huge budget shortfall for FY 2007. It is offering a buyout to its employees and is proposing to stop evening and Saturday research room hours at College Park and in DC. I'm hoping it doesn't have to start firing staff. The budget picture is very bleak right now.