We are requesting comments on a draft of an upcoming NARA Bulletin on minimum metadata requirements for transferring permanent electronic records to NARA. There are three parts to the draft (links are to PDF versions): the draft bulletin, Metadata Element Definitions, and Recommended file and folder naming conventions. The Bulletin applies to all electronic records that … Continue reading Review and Comment on Draft Metadata Guidance
On June 7, 2023, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) conducted a webinar on digitizing permanent records to comply with the requirements in 36 CFR 1236 Subpart E, providing valuable insights into best practices and guidelines. In this blog post, we summarize the key takeaways from the webinar. Preparing for Digitization Agencies must first … Continue reading Key Takeaways from the NARA Digitizing Permanent Records Webinar
We are pleased to announce the release of Version 3 of the Universal Electronic Records Management (ERM) Requirements as part of our Federal Electronic Records Modernization Initiative (FERMI). Through this initiative, we have been working to improve the way agencies acquire ERM services and solutions. We first released the Universal ERM Requirements in August 2017. … Continue reading Release of Universal Electronic Records Management Requirements, Version 3
This is the fifth in a series of posts supporting the publication of 36 CFR section 1236 subpart E – Digitizing Permanent Records. All of the posts have been collected under the 36 CFR Section 1236 category. In this post, we discuss validation and its importance in the digitization process. 36 CFR 1236 Subpart E includes the … Continue reading Digitizing Records: The Importance of Validation
This is our fourth blog post taking a deep dive into 36 CFR 1236 Subpart E–Digitizing Permanent Records, which takes effect next week. In this post, we address quality management (QM) which includes the quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) requirements provided in the regulation. All of the previous posts have been collected under the 36 … Continue reading Digitizing Records: Quality Management
This is the third in a series of posts supporting the publication of 36 CFR section 1236 subpart E – Digitizing Permanent Records. All of the posts have been collected under the 36 CFR Section 1236 category. Digitization has become a crucial component of record-keeping for government agencies. With the rise of technology, the need … Continue reading Digitizing Records: Documentation
When NARA released its revised Format Guidance for the Transfer of Permanent Electronic Records in 2014, we identified the file formats acceptable for use by Federal agencies when transferring permanent email messages to NARA. These formats include EML, MBOX, MSG, and PST. Notable for its omission is PDF. This might seem surprising since regardless of … Continue reading Email in PDF – Pushing the (email) envelope.
In this post, we are continuing to answer some of the common questions we’ve received about FERMI. This post focuses on questions about electronic records management approaches and how FERMI supports the transition to digital government. Please feel free to ask any additional questions here as a comment or email RMPolicy@nara.gov. Here are some common … Continue reading More Common Questions about NARA’s Federal Electronic Records Modernization Initiative (FERMI)
We will be co-hosting an Industry Day with GSA on August 6 to launch the next phase of our Federal Electronic Records Modernization Initiative (FERMI). The Industry Day will be held from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Eastern in the McGowan Theater at the National Archives Building. We will announce how vendors listed on GSA … Continue reading Industry Day for Electronic Messages on August 6
The NARA draft strategic plan has been updated and submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for their review. We want to offer our sincere thank you to all who provided us with comments and questions. We made a number of changes to this version. The most obvious change is that we added … Continue reading Update: NARA’s Draft Strategic Plan, 2018-2022
