Impact of National Archives and Records Service's Budget Reductions on Its Preservation and Other Activities

GAO evaluated the National Archives and Records Service's (NARS) ability to cope with its responsibilities in the face of budgetary curtailment and technological uncertainty. Some GAO concerns about the small percentage of NARS funds budgeted for preservation activities were alleviated when NARS increased the portion of its budget allocated to these activities. NARS has also devoted a great deal of effort to develop criteria for determining which records have intrinsic value and those which need to be preserved only for their informational value. However, little progress has been made toward developing specific criteria for defining intrinsic value. Considerable progress has been made in increased microfilming of records and disposing of the originals which have no intrinsic value. In addition, NARS has converted a substantial amount of dangerous nitrate base motion picture film to fire-resistant safety base film and disposed of some which had no archival value. NARS should expedite its efforts to convert the remaining nitrate film to safety base film to eliminate a fire hazard and to avoid the costs of storing such film in special vaults. The National Archives Building does not meet NARS environmental standards, and efforts to correct these conditions have not been effective. A comprehensive plan should be made for meeting the environmental conditions required for proper records storage. Budget reductions and increased charges for space will severely limit the NARS ability to fulfill its mission. While NARS is a space-intensive agency, its storage requirements are determined by other agencies. The General Services Administration charges NARS rent which is comparable to commercial charges. Since restrictions in services would likely result in increasing Government record storage costs by encouraging agencies to keep records in higher cost office space, GAO would not favor NARS charging for records storage as a method for solving short-term funding problems. NARS has reduced its staff by about 140 people through reductions in force. Thus, it may no longer be able to provide 24-hour-a-day environmental controls critical to archival preservation; work on preserving film may be halted; and preservation work may continue to be reactive to the emergency of the moment, rather than focused on established priorities.