Hmmm, at least Olberman knew there are such people as archivists. (I'm
old fashioned, I watch the ABC Nightly News mostly, as I've done for
decades and decades. I've only seen Olberman a few times in his
current gig; I used to enjoy seeing him on ESPN on Sports Center, way
back when. Pretty irreverant in that venue, as I recall.) I'm not
sure why he thought "NASA archivists" were involved. Maybe because the
initial news stories talked about engineers and scientists scrambling
around to search NASA's "archive." As I said in the note I sent the
professor, linked to earlier today, laymen think any old, inactive
records comprise an "archive." Most Federal agencies don't employe
archivists, although some do.
I gather the Apollo tapes went to NARA, then were withdrawn for
temporary use by NASA, some time ago. To the extent the press accounts
may have the date right, it sounds as if this happened decades ago. I
don't know what the records schedule said for these tapes, that is, how
long NASA was to hold them as agency records before they were turned
over for accessioning by NARA. (I'm assuming the tapes were designated
as permanent (!)) The withdrawal presumably was from a
NARA-administered Federal Records Center, during the period while the
schedule still described them as being in agency custody but stored at
the FRC. (You know, the typical "transfer to FRC 5 years after
closure; transfer to NARA 20 years after closure" type of designation.)
NASA's current guidance document, posted on its external website at
http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PR_1441_001D_&pa
ge_na
notes that
"any records withdrawn from an FRC should be returned. . . the borrower
is responsible for returning the records as soon as no longer needed."
I suspect records managers initially checked with the user from time to
time, the user said he still had a need for the tapes, and the issue
faded over time. We don't know who the user was, any NASA official
could have requested the records management staff to retrieve the tapes
from NARA. The news accounts quote engineers, rather than historians,
as remembering having worked with the originals. No way to tell from
the press accounts who last worked with them. At any rate, people may
have left, the materials might have been shifted from one place to
another, etc. Clearly, NASA seems just to have lost track of them.
Unfortunately, this happens.
BTW, I would love to see the records retention schedule that was in
effect when the retrieval from NARA occurred. I'm curious as to what
it said about when the tape was to be accessioned into NARA, again
assuming this occurred prior to that time. Presumably, NASA still has
a copy somewhere, but I don't know if they do. News accounts never
give the type of technical details I want to know, LOL.
I bet this sort of inadvertent loss or misplacement happens on
campuses, at television stations and at newspapers and other major
media outlets (gasp). I imagine that it can happen anywhere users
retrieve records from off-site storage and don't immediately return
them to storage after they are done with them. I'm fascinated by how
this has become such a news story in the news media and on academic
blogs.
When I saw the subject line, I thought Andrea might be forwarding an
email or posting from elsewhere. Glad to see it was just a comment
from a TV cable guy. LOL.
Maarja
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