When NARA began its new policy on reseacher ID cards, I was moving from
Mississippi to Florida.  I had left Mississippi and had not yet taken
possession of my residence in Florida. I still had a Mississippi drivers
license.  My first mistake was teling them my story.  I was told this made
me a "non-resident citizen" and I could not get a researcher ID card.  So I
went down to the local DC post office and opened a post office box.  I
returned to NARA (archives I) with the P.O. Box information and was given
an ID card, based on my Florida address (the one I had not yet taken
possession of).  I found it all amusing.

From:Archives & Archivists <[log in to unmask]> on 04/27/2006
10:37 AST


Sent by: Archives & Archivists <[log in to unmask]>

Please respond to [log in to unmask]



To:   [log in to unmask]
cc:   (bcc: Russell D James/rjames8/LSU)

Subject:    Flabbergasted by NARA visit today



As you all know, I work as an historian at a federal agency.  I
occasionally visit NARA to do research for that agency; I also
sometimes do personal research.  As of today, I hold a researcher card
for NARA.  That card expires tomorrow (NARA issues picture ID
researcher cards of one year duration).

I took time away from my job today to go to Archives I to renew my
researcher card.  Before doing so, I carefully checked NARA's website
to see what it said anything about procedures for renewing cards.  To
my astonishment, NARA refused to let me get a new card today.  Three
people in the research room at Archives I told me that NARA's policy is
to have researchers renew their cards only on the day they expire or
after that date.  That is not stated anywhere on NARA's website.  So my
taking time away from job to go to NARA was futile.  I can't go to NARA
tomorrow.  Who knows when I'll next get a chance to go there so I'm
stymied right now.

I'm flabbergasted.  When I asked the research room staff why the
renewal policy was not spelled out on the agency website, no one could
tell me.  When I told one research room attendant that I used to work
at NARA but did not understand this rebuff or why NARA's policy was not
stated publicly, he asked of my employment, "was that before 9/11."
I'm afraid I replied with a sigh, "yeah, yeah, 9/11 changed everything.
I've heard that before."  While I understand why NARA went to picture
IDs for researchers after 9/11, I fail to see a connection between 9/11
and not telling researchers on its website that an attempt to renew one
day prior to expiration will be rebuffed.

Even the DMV allows you to renew its cards prior to the expiration
date.  (Virginia states "You may renew your driver's license as early
as two years prior to the expiration date on your license."  And I
doubt that the state of Virginia, which suffered horrible losses in the
attack on the Pentagon, takes 9/11 less seriously than government
agencies.)

This was my second discouraging contact with NARA this month.  Earlier
in April, I enquired how I could get copies of the oral history
interview that NARA staff did with H. R. Haldeman in 1987.  I was told
I could come to the research room at Archives II and xerox it on the
self-service copiers.  However, the transcript is over 500 pages long
(I know that, since I typed it into the computer at NARA in the late
1980s), so I don't see how I can do that.  The research room attendants
at Archives II would not allow a single researcher to hog a machine
while she xeroxes a 500+ page long transcript.  The staff cannot copy
the transcript for me.  I don't know why a digitized version is not
available.  So, I'm stymied on that one, too.

If any of outside Washington work with researchers who want to do
research at NARA, please do warn them that the agency will decline
their attempts to renew their researcher cards if they only can stop in
Washington a day before the card expires.  I wasted part of a morning;
I'd hate to see someone come in from out of town and think they could
renew a card on a day when they cannot.  NARA needs to spell this out
on its website, for sure!

Maarja

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the
Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to
http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
*or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>