After successfully meeting key deadlines in its transition to accepting only digital records from Federal agencies, a National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) official said this week that NARA will continue to provide guidance and support for electronic records management including through the use of artificial intelligence tech.
Following NARA’s success in meeting its longstanding deadline of June 30 marking a full transition to accepting records solely in an electronic format, the agency is working to transition to the zero click management process, said Lisa Haralampus, director of records management policy and outreach at NARA, at the Digital Government Institute’s 930Gov conference in Washington on Sept. 4.
Zero click is an automated streamlining process that results in automatic record management as part of normal tasks by embedding management rules into electronic systems – allowing agency employees to focus on other responsibilities. The transition to zero click would limit the number of “clicks so that agencies can test efficient, effective space,” Haralampus said.
“We want to explore automated approaches that relieve the traditional burden on the individual Federal employee,” said Haralampus. “That’s where we can see the benefits of this transition.”
The June deadline pushed many agencies to shift to digitized process and create electronic versions of their analog records – though NARA received one million cubic feet of records ahead of the deadline in what Haralampus called a “greater than normal increase” of transfer requests as agencies sought to send analog files to NARA.
Despite NARA no longer receiving non-digital files, Haralampus said that digital recordkeeping still faces challenges, and noted that the scale of Federal records – including emails and texts – continues to quickly grow.
When acknowledging this, she said NARA is committing to providing agencies with support in the digital transition and upkeep for the “variety” of digital records that are being kept permanently or temporarily.
“NARA is going to continue to provide guidance to support management electronic records and effectively and efficiency over time,” she said, adding that NARA will be working on the infrastructure necessary to transition to zero click. “That’s always been our touchstone, and we’ll continue to work that way,” she said.
Other recent pushes toward increased electronic record-keeping includes NARA’s new digitization center opened in April in College Park, Md., featuring high-speed scanners and camera systems that enables the digitization of “up to 10 times as many records per year.” The center was created for greater record-keeping capacity and to provide better public access to federal government records, according to NARA.
