Featured Image for 6 Months Left Part 3: Understanding Why M-19-21 is Important to NARAWith only six months left to meet the records management mandates of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) memorandum M-19-21, many federal agencies are still struggling to comply. Transitioning to mostly electronic records management by the end of this year is a big ask, especially after the complications caused by the ongoing pandemic.

So far, NARA has left the deadline unchanged, however. In 2020, they wrote, “We are sympathetic to the challenges agencies are facing during the current health crisis; however, the targets set for federal agencies in 2022 are not imminent and do not require adjusting at this point.” Two years later, their position does not seem to have changed.

Why is NARA pushing this mandate so hard? It might be helpful to understand that pushing federal agencies to handle their own records in electronic format is pivotal to NARA meeting its own ambitious organizational goals. NARA’s 2022-2026 strategic plan lays out an aggressive series of objectives – and electronic records management is key to almost all of them.

1: Promoting equity

To begin, NARA has the admirable goal of making its archival records more accessible to the public, especially traditionally underserved communities. It has committed itself to processing 85% of archival holdings by volume to at least the basic level by fiscal year 2026. That means it wants to make 16 million pages and 364,000 digital images easily accessible to underserved communities and other stakeholders. That is a monumental goal that can only be achieved if federal agencies are processing those records in electronic format to begin with.

2: Increased digitization

A closely related strategic goal is for NARA to digitize 500 million pages of records by fiscal year 2026 and make them publicly available through the National Archives catalog. It held this goal previously but was unable to meet it due to the pandemic, so it is extended the goal through 2026.

In terms of accessibility, the strategic plan describes how sheer physical distance from NARA facilities storing physical records can impose logistical constraints and travel costs that make public access difficult. By making these records available electronically, they can close a longstanding gap in records availability. As NARA itself says in its strategic plan, “Digitization and online access directly address equity.”

3: Improved responsiveness

NARA serves an unsung function in the federal government. The records that it holds and manages are pivotal to the execution of government business, academic research and study, public insight into (and oversight of) the government, and more. But legacy systems, outdated business processes, and backlogs make it very difficult for NARA to respond to customer and stakeholder requests in a timely manner.

They have therefore established a goal of answering customer requests within the promised timeframe 95% of the time by fiscal year 2026. To meet this goal, NARA has no choice but to enable digital delivery of records in response to requests. That, in turn, means they need those records in electronic format.

4: Provider better guidance to federal agencies

One of NARA’s own longstanding mandates is to better serve the federal government itself by supporting the records management needs and objectives of different federal agencies. NARA has thus established a goal to issue guidance on the digitization of permanent analog records by the end of 2024 and to develop a public dashboard to share information about different federal agencies’ records management programs.

To meet these goals, however, it needs insight into each federal agency’s records management program, and analog systems often turn into opaque black holes with limited-to-no visibility. Only electronic records management systems enable the visibility and transparency needed for NARA to be able to execute these goals.

It’s undeniable that the M-19-21 mandate has created real challenges for federal agencies, but NARA has its own challenges to conquer, namely the sheer quantity of aggregated archive records it receives. Converting to electronic records management makes it much easier for NARA to meet its own mandates and better serve the public.

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