Does anyone else find it ironic that the Director has chosen to fire/relocate 7 staff affiliated with library functions, but will be hiring 26 people to "to improve government-wide and internal electronic recordkeeping" and "to improve research room holdings protection in the Washington, DC, area." I'm sure there is a logical explanation out there somewhere (sarcasm), but I bet the 7 chosen ones aren't seeing it. My 2 cents worth. Frances Piesbergen Reference Leadership Team/ Serials Coordinator Thomas Jefferson Library ph. (314) 516-5084 Univ. of MO - St. Louis fax: (314) 516-5853 One University Blvd. e-m: sfrpies@umsl.edu St. Louis, MO 63121 -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Michele Pope Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:42 PM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: [SERIALST] [law-lib] FW: NARA Library abolished Archivist Memo 2011-113 Please see below. Michele Pope Serials/Government Documents Librarian Loyola University Law Library 7214 St. Charles Avenue Campus Box 903 New Orleans, LA 70118 T(504) 861-5546 F(504) 861-5895 -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of Government Document Issues [mailto:GOVDOC-L@lists.psu.edu] On Behalf Of Bernadine Abbott Hoduski Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 1:07 PM To: GOVDOC-L@lists.psu.edu Subject: NARA Library abolished Archivist Memo 2011-113 Hello All, The Archivist of the United States has issued Memo 2011-113, which announces the abolishment of the National Archives Library by the end of this fiscal year. I went to the NARA site and found the Archives Library Information Center (ALIC) to find the number and jobs of the staff and the services provided. This center is heavily used by historians, genealogists and others. Check it out youself. The library is part of the by-law program run by GPO and is entitled to all the government publications issued through the GPO. The library collects publications such as phone directories and other publications that concern personnel. These types of publications usually do not go to depository libraries or if they are, they are discarded when the new edition is issued. NARA keeps those older editions and these are invaluable to researchers and genealogists as well as agency historians. Since some of the planning for the future of the depository library program has depended upon back up collections at NARA and LC and the national libraries, it is important to know what will happen to the collections held by ALIC. Will they be kept by NARA and sent to other units or will they be discarded? Will librarians throughout the world be able to borrow those publications and will they be able to send researchers to NARA in DC to do research? The staff at ALIC have provided excellent service and have created on line tools to help researchers more easily find both govenrment documents and other resources. Who will provide this service once these librarians are gone? It is important to know what will happen to RG 287 (This is the collection of several million government documents collected and cataloged by GPO. The collection was transfered from the Department of Interior in 1895 to GPO and was organized by Adelaide Hasse. It was transferred to NARA by GPO in 1972 so it would be permanently protected as government records). RG287 is under the control of NARA Legislative Archives. It is not clear where RG287 is housed and whether it is kept as one unit or scattered among various units of NARA. It is not clear as to who is providing service to this collection. It would make sense to transfer library staff most familiar with government documents to legislative archives so that the nation can continue to benefit from the expertise and knowledge of librarians at NARA. As we all know as librarians, libraries are often the first to be cut in an economic crisis. We also know that once the resources in these libraries are lost they are almost impossible to replace. I have listed the names and positions of the library staff below along with the memo from the Archivist. Please send this message on to your state association list serves and other organizations. Bernadine Abbott Hoduski 4942 Walnut 1 S, K. C. MO 64112 816-442-7153 ber@montana.com National Archives Library (ALIC) abolished - Archivist Memo 2011-113 7 positions to be eliminated: Current Library employees: 1. Jeff Hartley [Chief Librarian] 2. Carolyn Gilliam [Reference] 3. Randall Fortson [Reference A2] 4. Torin Pollock [Technician] 5. Melissa Copp [Cataloger] 6. Nancy Wing [Reference head A1] (Military) 7. Tim Syzek [Reference (Military)] 8. Marquetta Troy [Technician] 9. Maryellen Trautman [Documents Cataloger-By Law] NARA Notice 2011-113Date: February 14, 2011 To: All Employees Subject: President Requests $422M for National Archives 2012 Budget > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- President Barack Obama today sent to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year 2012budget request for the Federal Government that calls for $422,501,000 forthe National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The requested amount for NARA is an 8.2 percent decrease from the FY 2011President's Budget request of $460,287,000. NARA still has not received anannual appropriation for FY 2011 and we are operating under ContinuingResolution Authority that holds our spending to FY 2010 levels. This is a difficult budget climate that has required extraordinary actionssuch as freezing Federal Government civilian employee pay for two years.NARA's budget reflects that reality. However, with the resources provided,we will be able meet our vital mission to preserve the nation's importantrecords and make them accessible to the public as soon as possible. The greatest budget savings will come from the earlier decision to stopdevelopment of the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) and move directly intoan operations and maintenance mode. This transition at the end of FY 2011will reduce program expenditures by $36,300,000. Beginning in FY 2012, ERAwill become an operational system and will be moved back into the OperatingExpenses (OE) appropriation. In FY 2012, the President is requesting $403,742,000 for the merged OE andERA appropriation. This is a net decrease of 7 percent or $30,447,000 fromthe combined FY 2011 President's Request for OE and ERA of $434,189,000.While the majority of the decrease is within the ERA program, we followedAdministration guidance to reduce or eliminate a variety of programs insteadof taking across the board cuts to ensure that available resources are goingtowards our most critical mission requirements. These reductions weretaken to meet budget targets set by the Office of Management and Budget.Many of you will ask how this budget will affect our transformation efforts.Our budget realities are evolving, and of course, affect how much we can doand on what timetable. Any impact of the Federal budget environment isseparate from the transformation, but the transformation is all the moreimportant because of it. Two of the cuts taken to meet our budget target affect NARA staff. Aftermuch analysis and deliberation, we have decided to close The NationalArchives at Boston-Pittsfield Annex, effective October 1, 2011. Thisfacility houses Archives microfilm publications and public access computersserving about 1,800 researchers during the last fiscal year. I regret that this decision will affect two long-time Archives employees who run thiscenter. They will be offered other positions at other facilities within theNational Archives system and we will pay their relocation expenses. In addition, we will reduce the scope of the Archives Library InformationCenter (ALIC), currently operating out of Archives I and Archives II, by theend of FY 2011. This move affects seven staff members, who will be offeredother opportunities at NARA, and will curtail costs associated with addingto the ALIC collection. ALIC was originally designed and staffed to meetthe information needs of NARA staff members, and it currently helps supportpublic archival research. Reference materials from the ALIC space atArchives I will be relocated to assist consultation in Archives I researchrooms and to provide a continuing presence at Archives II. Our on-linelibrary reference services will become the primary information resource forstaff. In no way do these difficult changes reflect on the staff affected by thesecuts. Their dedication to their profession in performing this work over theyears is greatly appreciated. These staff-at both Pittsfield and ALIC-havebeen supported by students and volunteers over the years and, in some cases,for decades. Our appreciation also recognizes their efforts. New priorities that we will be able to accommodate within available fundinginclude: hiring 15 new employees to improve government-wide and internalelectronic recordkeeping; obtaining storage space for archival records toaddress the critical shortage of records storage space in the Washington,DC, area; supporting records storage space requirements for archival recordsat the new National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO; continuing tobuild and expand the IT infrastructure for the National DeclassificationCenter; and hiring 11 employees to improve research room holdings protectionin the Washington, DC, area. The President also recommends a 3.5 percent decrease in the budget forNARA's Inspector General, which returns their funding to FY 2010 levels of$4,100,000. For Repairs and Restoration (R&R) to NARA-owned buildings, the President isseeking $9,659,000, a decrease of 18.5 percent from the FY 2011 request.These resources will be applied to NARA's base R&R requirements. The Budgetalso requests the removal of restrictions placed on $6,341,000 in previousfiscal year building project funding. We will use $341,000 to support baseR&R requirements and the remaining $6,000,000 will be used for the toppriority project in NARA's Capital Improvements Plan, which calls forchanges to the infrastructure on the ground floor of the National ArchivesBuilding in Washington. This will complete the work planned to begin in FY2011 with Congressional support to prepare the infrastructure for creationof an orientation plaza to improve visitor circulation to the Charters ofFreedom, Public Vaults, McGowan Theater, and Lawrence F. O'Brien Gallerytemporary exhibit gallery. It will also create space for a new Freedom Hallgallery and expand the gift shop. The Foundation for the National Archiveshas committed to raising matching funds for this project. For the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC),the grant-making arm of the National Archives, we will be able to maintain aviable grant program with the President's $5,000,000 request for thisprogram. This is a 50 percent reduction from the FY 2011 request. DAVID S. FERRIERO Archivist of the United States For questions on this notice contact:Richard Judson, NA richard.judson@nara.gov 2300, Archives II> ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
