I am forwarding a message with permission that I received from Ancestry Daily News through the Horry County group. I thought would be of interest to all. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2000 11:13 AM Subject: [SCHORRY-L] NARA improvement > Please read the following article from Ancestry Daily News. If you think > that this is a good idea, you may tell your Senator and Representatives to > please support this plan by accessing the following Web sites. You might > like to pass it on to other Genealogy related Lists. > > Thanks, > Robert Roach > > http://www.senate.gov/ > http://www.house.gov/writerep/ > > ============================================================ > PRESIDENT PROPOSES BUDGET INCREASE FOR NARA > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> > ============================================================ > President Clinton has proposed a budget increase of $77,755,000 for Fiscal > Year > 2001 that would enable the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) > to renovate the original National Archives Building in downtown Washington, > D.C., and advance initiatives in four major areas under NARA's Strategic > Plan: > > ~ Improve records management in the Federal Government > ~ Meet special challenges posed by electronic records > ~ Expand public access to records > ~ Meet storage and preservation needs of growing quantities of records. > > For improving government records management, the budget requests an addition > of > $992,000 to extend NARA's Targeted Assistance Program to Federal agencies in > more regions of the country as well as in Washington, D.C. Through this > partnership program, agencies with particularly severe records management > needs > receive priority help from NARA. > > For meeting electronic records challenges, the budget requests an addition of > $902,000 for helping Federal agencies manage electronic records by testing > guidance within NARA itself, and for adding three high-level professionals to > assist with the development and implementation of an Electronic Records > Archives > (ERA). With our base funding plus these funds, NARA will continue working > towards this ERA within the National Partnership for Advanced Computational > Infrastructure. Through this partnership, the San Diego Supercomputer Center > has > produced prototype demonstrations for preserving large volumes of electronic > records such as email messages in a relatively short time. We now need to > continue research toward building an archives that can preserve any kind of > electronic record in a format that frees it from the computer system in which > it > was created, an archives that also can meet requests for that record using a > variety of tools available today and advanced technologies that will be > developed for tomorrow. All this could be a major breakthrough in NARA's > search > for a system to accession, preserve, and provide electronic access to > electronic > records of the Federal Government. > > For expanding public access to records, the budget requests an increase of > $14,516,000 for the following initiatives: > > ~ Improving reference services for records needed by America's veterans > ~ Expanding NARA's online offerings via the Internet to customers nationwide > ~ Upgrading NARA's communications infrastructure to improve service > capabilities > for customers and staff nationwide > ~ Meeting requirements of the Administration's records declassification order, > and > ~ Taking custody of and beginning to process the records of the Clinton > Administration in compliance with the Presidential Records Act. > > For meeting storage and preservation needs of growing quantities of records, > the > budget requests an increase of $6,528,000 to ensure the survival of veterans' > records in jeopardy, make NARA's facilities more secure, and move > Administration > records into temporary quarters in Little Rock in preparation for the Clinton > Presidential Library. > > The major increase proposed in the budget is $88,000,000 for the renovation > NARA > has been repairing of the original National Archives Building, now nearly > two-thirds of a century old. The work will include correcting mechanical, > electrical, plumbing and fire safety deficiencies; retrofitting the Rotunda to > display America's Charters of Freedom (the Declaration of Independence, the > Constitution, and the Bill of Rights) in new encasements currently under > preparation; bringing the building into full compliance with the Americans > with > Disabilities Act; upgrading storage conditions to meet modern archival > standards; and providing sufficient exhibit and public-use space to > accommodate > increasing numbers of visitors. > > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> > Best Wishes, > Juliana Smith, Editor, Ancestry Daily News > Jennifer Browning, Associate Editor > Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to other genealogy enthusiasts! > We > hope that you will also credit the Daily News as the source. To subscribe to > this newsletter, visit http://www.ancestry.com/ and type your e-mail address > in > the box provided, or send an e-mail message to: > mailto:[email protected] with the word 'subscribe' > in > the subject line. For comments or submissions to the Daily News, e-mail: > mailto:[email protected] > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> > ******************************************************************** >