The Fading Memory of the State. David Talbot.
by Talbot, David; ProQuest Information and Learning Company.
Series: SIRS Enduring Issues 2006Article 76Science. Publisher: Technology Review, 2005ISSN: 1522-3264;.Subject(s): Archives | Digital technology | Electronic records | Government publications | Internet | Metadata | U.S. National Archives and Records AdmDDC classification: 050 Summary: "The official repository of retired U.S. government records is a boxy white building tucked into the woods of suburban College Park, MD. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is a subdued place, with researchers quietly thumbing through boxes of old census, diplomatic, or military records, and occasionally requesting a copy of one of the computer tapes that fill racks on the climate-controlled upper floors. Researchers generally don't come here to look for contemporary records, though. Those are increasingly digital, and still repose largely at the agencies that created them, or in temporary holding centers. It will take years, or decades, for them to reach NARA, which is charged with saving the retired records of the federal government....Unfortunately, NARA doesn't have decades to come up with ways to preserve this data. Electronic records rot much faster than paper ones, and NARA must either figure out how to save them permanently, or allow the nation to lose its grip on history." (TECHNOLOGY REVIEW) This article discusses the problem faced by archivists at the National Archives in trying to preserve today's increasing numbers of electronic records.| Item type | Current location | Call number | Status | Date due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Books
|
High School - old - to delete | REF SIRS 2006 Science Article 76 (Browse shelf) | Available |
Articles Contained in SIRS Enduring Issues 2006.
Originally Published: The Fading Memory of the State, July 2005; pp. 44-49.
"The official repository of retired U.S. government records is a boxy white building tucked into the woods of suburban College Park, MD. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is a subdued place, with researchers quietly thumbing through boxes of old census, diplomatic, or military records, and occasionally requesting a copy of one of the computer tapes that fill racks on the climate-controlled upper floors. Researchers generally don't come here to look for contemporary records, though. Those are increasingly digital, and still repose largely at the agencies that created them, or in temporary holding centers. It will take years, or decades, for them to reach NARA, which is charged with saving the retired records of the federal government....Unfortunately, NARA doesn't have decades to come up with ways to preserve this data. Electronic records rot much faster than paper ones, and NARA must either figure out how to save them permanently, or allow the nation to lose its grip on history." (TECHNOLOGY REVIEW) This article discusses the problem faced by archivists at the National Archives in trying to preserve today's increasing numbers of electronic records.
Records created from non-MARC resource.
There are no comments for this item.