Digitization of Federal Records to Comply with US National Archives Regulations
Instructor(s): Michael Horsley, US National Archives and Records Administration
Level: Introductory
Duration: 2 hours, with a 15 minute break
Date: Thursday, 26 May
Time:
    New York: 10:00 – 12:15
    Paris: 15:00 – 18:15

Benefits:
This course enables the attendee to:

• Become familiar with the requirements to comply with NARA's digitization standards.
• Understand the compliance requirements for permanent and temporary records.
• Develop a digitization plan that incorporates FADGI technical guidelines and NARA records management regulations.
• Gain a thorough understanding of how to apply quality management principles such as quality control and inspection to verify compliance.
• Gain an appreciation of the complexity involved in establishing a digitization program at scale.
• Learn how to interpret FADGI results and how to apply process improvement.

Course Description: As part of a comprehensive transition to managing all government records in an electronic record format, the US National Archives (NARA) has developed new regulations that provide standards for the digitization of permanent and temporary records with an eye to disposing of the original.  The requirements draw principles from the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative's (FADGI), Technical Guidelines (2016), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ISO/TR 13028:2010, and ISO/TS 19264-1:2017. The regulation covers the standards and procedures that an agency, employee, or agents acting on the agency's behalf, such as contractors, must apply when digitizing permanent paper records, including prints and photographic prints, using reflective digitization techniques.

NARA has worked with FADGI to create a new digitization category for mass digitization of federal textual records that contains loosened requirements suitable for modern paper records that do not have visible content recorded in the same tone densities as the two darkest patches (L*20 and L*21) of the DICE target. A second category has been defined for all prints and photographic prints or other paper records that include fine detail, require a high degree of color accuracy, or contain other unique characteristics that cannot be captured to the mass digitization specifications.

This course provides an understanding of the new directive, guidance on what the requirements are, and suggests approaches to be taken to meet the requirements. Topics covered include the general principles federal agencies will need to cover such as records management rules/regulations/practices; project management checklists; quality management (project level); and most importantly, the validations steps that constitute when (and how) the lifecycle of the analogue to digital surrogate is established.

Intended Audience: Federal agencies that must comply with the requirement, vendors of equipment and services related to digitization of federal records, industry consultants, contracting officers, and procurement professionals.

Michael Horsley is a technical specialist in the Office of the Chief Records Officer, US National Archives and Records Administration where he is responsible for digitization and other records management regulations. Horsley serves as an agency representative to FADGI, a member of ISO TC 171, and liason to ISO ISO/TC 42-TC 46/SC 11-TC 171 JWG 26. He has more than 25 years experience in cultural heritage digitization at the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, and the US National Archives.

Cost:
Member $ 85
Non Member $ 95
Student $ 45

For office use only: