Hi, Linda, this is Maarja.  I have some general questions which I am posting to the List.

I won't be coming to the reception but I have other friends who are eligible to retire and can picture coming out to celebrate their departures in the years to come.  Your nice invitation raises some procedural questions for me.  It's been a year since I came out to Archives II.  I notice that NARA recently has changed some of the procedures for researchers (see 

http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/researcher-newsletter.pdf )

I've looked also at NARA's older posting at
http://www.archives.gov/research/notices/new-security-procedures.html 

These really don't address instances of agency people coming out to Archives II for non-research purposes who might be carrying their own files, not to use at NARA, but just because they are in transit between their offices and homes.  

Would you or someone else from NARA mind posting some general guidance which would let us non-Nartians know how easy (or difficult) it is to get in and out of the building at Archives II for events in the meeting rooms on the lower level?  

The reason I ask is that receptions such as the one you describe take place towards the end of the workday.  For a non NARA employee coming out on the shuttle directly from work, what obstacles would there be in terms of entering and leaving with personal documents and other agency materials carried in a briefcase or backpack?  Would you discourage us from bringing anything like that with us?  If so, it would be nice to know this in advance rather than to get stuck being challenged by some of the guards.  Some of us occasionally carry home items from our workplaces (no, nothing like the thumbdrive with veterans' SSNs, LOL.  I'm thinking of innocuous type of stuff that nevertheless constitutes agency rather than NARA-held records.).  

There are no lockers in place to secure these types of items before you go through the lobby.  So there doesn't seem to be any way to avoid passing through a guard inspection on the way out.  Are the guards equipped to deal with such instances?  I'm somewhat doubtful that they are.  From reading the two sites above, it seems as if the emphasis is on maintaining a "clean" research room environment and ensuring proper identification of copies made from NARA's holdings.  The PDF file above refers to currier ("courier"?) bags, etc.

Any advice you could give would be most welcome, as I have so many friends at NARA and will end up out there, again, sooner or later.  I don't have a researcher card but am confident that I can get in for a social event with my work i.d.

Maarja

Maarja Krusten
GAO Historian
Office of Quality and 
     Continuous Improvement (QCI)
[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]>