Preservation and Trust Fund Operations at the National Archives and Records Service

A review was made of the adequacy of the preservation and physical storage of documents and audiovisual materials by the National Archives and Records Service (NARS). Due to the cost of textual preservation, a large-scale program of deacidification must be deferred until a cost-effective process is developed. Security for intrinsically valuable documents could be enhanced if they were microfilmed. NARS has not given adequate attention to conforming to temperature and humidity standards or fire safety standards. These problems are particularly severe at the old Lansburgh's Department Store building which is being leased by NARS. A review was made of revenue-producing activities of the NARS Trust Fund, and it was concluded that the Congress is not receiving adequate information on the types of activities carried out by the trust fund. For some Archives activities, it is difficult to distinguish between trust fund and appropriated fund activities. Controls have not been established to assure that trust fund employees are not paid out of appropriated funds. By statute NARS is not permitted to set prices for sales on a basis other than cost, but the features of cost-plus a percentage-of-cost contracting are undesirable. GAO believes that the current revolving-type trust fund operation is not justified and should be discontinued.