Phil Lothyan
Director
National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region
6125 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
p.s. you may be interested in the following memo postscript
DRAFT NUMBER TWO
Date: October 19, 1993
Subject: Electronic/micrographic outreach
BACKGROUND:
Scholars travel to original records or use microfilm copies
of them off-site to cite, abstract, or extract information therein
for published research. In addition, teachers emulate scholars by
traveling to original records to browse staff selected series to
"discover" "relevant" documents for copying and using in classrooms
as curriculum enrichment material, sometimes modeled on our
collections of annotated, bound documents. Teachers rarely use
microfilm publications in the same manner either on or off site.
PROBLEMS:
Scholars and teachers unable to travel to original documents
resort to published generic and specific catalogs of microfilm
publications with occasionally available descriptive pamphlets, if
they can find them in OCLC or RLIN (rare in public library
catalogs). However, even when found, the current general catalog
only makes one general reference to regional archives (no addresses
given), no mention of the NARA contractor loan program for
genealogical titles, and provides only title entries for
publications. Regional catalogs provide more description of each
publication, but do not mention the NARA loan contractor or the
possibility of borrowing microfilm publications from Regional
Archives having low genealogical value but high historical value.
As a result, teachers are often uninformed as to the location of
such catalogs, procedures for obtaining a descriptive pamphlet or
a copy thereof, and the microfilm publications themselves except
as sales items. Furthermore, published catalogs are only in record
group order and often have limited indexes. As a result, few
scholars or teachers ever use thousands upon thousands of rolls of
microfilm in our custody at a time when educational resources
across the nation are being strained to their limits while
ironically, educational communications now span the globe. We are
trapped in an obsolete mode of thinking if like archivists of old,
we expect our users to be self-educated commuters to the records
with only an option to buy copies from Washington. DC. We need to
be far more electronically proactive to better utilize a large,
pre-existing resource. It is also time to re-think our loan
policies for microfilm publications, both regionally and
nationally, unchanged since we abandoned Interlibrary Loans (ILL)
ca. 1981.
PROPOSALS (not in rank order):
1. Supplement general catalog subject indexes with
databases for customized reports, not only by
publication number and subject but also by datespan of
the records, geographic location or focus (state,
territory, quadrant of USA, or feature such as the
Pacific Rim), catalog status (addendum or not),
genealogical value (high, medium, low), and
the like. These databases should be available
in e-mail as text files (ASCII), including
delimited SDF files for uploading into different
database software, and as electronic copies of
original databases, including using File Transfer
Protocol procedures and INTERNET search engines.
At the present time, the National Archives-Pacific NW
Region is offering test database indexes to its
holdings of National Archives and other microfilm
publications as electrostatic copies (via U. S.
mail and fax up to 25 pages), as electronic copies
(disks to be provided by requester, preferably
5.25" but 3.5" is acceptable), and as electronic
mail text files (either SDF delimited fields or
ASCII exports). We also offer microfiche copies
of DB4 reports of new titles as an addendum to
our regional microfilm catalog as well as
electrostatic copies of the reports as staff time
permits.
2. Supplement general and regional microfilm
catalogs with an appendix outlining the options
in proposal 1 above with illustrations and
interpretations of entries and sample documents
as "sneak previews" relevant to broad social
studies themes or recurring "current" events.
The current general and regional microfilm
catalogs emphasize on-site use, sales, or
loans of publications of genealogical records
rather than off-site use by a broad spectrum
(extra-genealogical/historical) researchers,
such as social studies teachers, English As
A Second Language teachers (nothing like reading
about your own country in English!), and the like.
An alternative to a catalog appendix might be a
national general information leaflet or a regional
tri-folded flyer.
3. Supplement general and regional microfilm
catalogs with an appendix outlining options in
making and disseminating images from borrowed
publications:
a. Reading the film, making a specific
citation, returning the film and requesting
selected copies of us on a time available basis
as a public service, or for a minimum mail order,
fax-to-fax or fax-to-computer fee (schedules
to be determined) for local or other educational
computer network dissemination.
b. Reading the film and making copies locally,
if not at the school library, perhaps in local
public library newspaper microfilm reading room or
genealogical libraries having such equipment.
c. Suggesting a local teachers workshop
in cooperation with a host historical
society. The National Archives-Pacific NW
Region is now negotiating such a workshop
with the Oregon Historical Society, our
first off-site workshop after two summers
of on-site teachers workshops.
CONCLUSION: With the advent of INTERNET and our monitoring of
selected LISTSERVS (academic and general), we no longer perceive
the National Archives-Pacific Northwest Region to be defined by
either our holdings of federal agencies from Washington, Oregon,
and Idaho or our most frequent commuters from the Seattle
Metropolitan Area. Our horizons now include the British
Commonwealth (Canada, especially British Columbia and Alberta
Provinces, and overseas dominions of the Crown) and indeed, the
Pacific Basin (the Pacific Rim, including Oceania). It is now time
for us all to reconsider our reference policies, procedures, and
publications in the light of new and old technologies.
PHILLIP E. LOTHYAN
Director, NA-PNWR
6125 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
voice (206) 526-6507
fax 526-4344
e-mail V6L@CU.NIH.GOV
P.S.:
Our NATIVE2.DBF file has 109 entries totaling 2,953 rolls (nearly
3 million pages of documents) relating to Native Americans,
including recent acquisitions of National Archives-Southwest Region
microfilm publications of regional records of the Five Civilized
Tribes.
OVERSEAS.DBF has 274 entries totaling 6,201 rolls (over six million
pages of documents) for more than 60 countries (Algiers through
Venezuela, including captured records of the Third Reich). We are
purchasing another 500 rolls relating to the Pacific Basin.