NARA's Electronic Records Archive

As announced at AIIM Expo 2006, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) plans to unveil initial capabilities of the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) in September 2007. It is expected that the ERA will become fully operational by 2011, according to a recent GCN article.

The ERA is a comprehensive and dynamic system that will enable the NARA to "authentically preserve and provide access to any kind of electronic record free from dependence on any specific hardware or software".

A key element of the ERA is the unified Web portal for accessing material distributed around the country in different locations. The portal will have two segments – one will cater to the general public seeking historic government records over the Internet: it will enable them search records, or browse by time frame or category. In addition, this segment will offer workbenches for specific types of popular searches (for example, genealogy-related queries).

Another segment will serve government records managers helping them, among other things, to
· Set up records schedules;
· Submit records electronically; and
· Check on the status of the submitted records.

As the article reports, some of the most significant challenges faced by the ERA designers include:
(a) Ensuring the system’s resilience to future changes in electronic document formats and supporting technologies; and
(b) Preventing inadvertent disclosure of information that should not be public (for example, medical records).

Technorati tags: United States, Federal Government, Information Management, Records Management, Information Technology

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