Hi, The National Archives is planning to cut the hours it is open for research. No weekends. No nights. That means you have to take some vacation (or wait until retirement) if you ever plan to do research at the facilities in the Washington area. If you want to complain, go to the links before. Brian Subject: NARA rule to change research/exhibit hours in DC area; public comment request ** High Priority ** The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) published today, July 25, 2006, in the Federal Register an interim final rule requesting public comment on a change in the hours for conducting research at the National Archives Building (DC) and National Archives at College Park (MD) and for visiting the Rotunda and National Archives Experience on the Constitution Ave side of the National Archives Building. § This rule and the changed hours will go into effect October 2, 2006. § Comments on this document must be received by September 8, 2006. See the rule at the link below or at www.regulations.gov for information on the ways to submit comments. § A public meeting relating to the rule will be held at the Jefferson Room in the National Archives Building at 1 pm on August 3. Please enter through the Special Events entrance on the Constitution Avenue side of the building (between 7th St. and 9th St. NW). Reservations are not required but space may be limited. § A link to the rule is at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/E6-11763.pdf BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE RULE: NARA is revising its regulations with respect to research room and museum hours at our facilities in the Washington, DC, area. The operating costs for these facilities have been increasing every year, particularly for staffing, security services and utilities. In these times of fiscal restraint, NARA has determined reluctantly that it is necessary to curtail service during time frames when only a small percentage of our users are present to ensure that we are able to provide quality services to customers during the times of greatest public use while we are also conducting other mission-critical duties. Additional information about this rulemaking is available in the text of the document at the URL above.

NARA has already cut out their evening and weekend hours, and today they told me it would be permanent until further notice. There have been budget cuts, and then the flooding we had in D.C. about 5 weeks ago caused extensive damage. NARA in D.C. was completely off-limits for over 3 weeks. The basement was under water, including the nice new cafeteria that they had recently added. They are having to tear things out and completely redo it. The building is open now, but they are still running off of generators, and there is only limited power available. You are not allowed to plug in laptops, and the second floor research room is not being powered at all. Researchers are being kept in a smaller room on the first floor to view their files, but there are only two copiers running, and you are timed at 5 minutes of copying and then you have to go to the end of the line and wait again. The "regulars" are scrambling to keep up with their workload. There is limited seating for researchers in the smaller room, and those without a seat have to wait outside the room on a waiting list and not be allowed in until another researcher exits. Appointments for the bulk copier fill up the day before. It isn't pretty. If you are planning a trip to NARA soon, do yourself a favor and postpone it. Peggy Reeves