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Joint Statement on Questions to Ask the Nominee for Archivist of the United
States
Prepared by
The Society of American Archivists
The National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators
The Council of State Historical Records Coordinators
April 26, 2004
The Archivist of the United States plays a vital role in protecting and preserving
essential records of government action. It is a position of trust for the American
people and thus requires the highest level of skills and knowledge regarding
leadership and management of records vital to protect the rights of citizens,
hold government officials and agencies accountable, and preserve evidence of
the role of government in American life. In evaluating the nomination of Professor
Allen Weinstein, or any other individual, as the next Archivist of the United
States, NAGARA, COSHRC, and SAA recommend asking the nominee the following
questions, based on a list of qualifications that we think are essential for
this important position of public trust. This list of questions supplements
the three organizations' "Joint Statement on Selection Criteria for the Archivist
of the United States."
Leadership and Advocacy
- Demonstrated ability to provide leadership and advocacy on behalf of
the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA’s)
dual role in preserving cultural heritage and in ensuring that public records
serve the purposes of evidence, accountability, and authenticity in protecting
the rights of all citizens.
- How should NARA pursue its dual role of protecting cultural heritage
and preserving governmental records for evidence, accountability, and
authenticity?
- How have you demonstrated your ability as a leader of a very large,
diverse, and dispersed nationwide staff that has experienced frequent
reorganizations?
- What have been the biggest challenges and accomplishments of NARA
in the last decade, and what will they be for the next decade?
- What is the appropriate balance among the functions of records management,
accessioning, archival arrangement, description, reference, preservation,
and online access in a major national recordkeeping program, and how
does a manager ensure that this balance is appropriately maintained?
- Demonstrated vision for the future of government archives and information
management, including development and implementation of information policy
and provision for the management of electronic records, such as the Electronic
Records Archives project.
- What would be your top three priorities as Archivist of the United
States, and how would they differ (if at all) from the current direction
being followed by NARA as spelled out in NARA’s strategic plan
and explained in its annual report?
- What initiatives should NARA undertake in meeting the challenges of
electronic recordkeeping systems and such electronic record types as
e-mail and database systems?
- How would you energize and inspire an aging workforce that has been
working with immense holdings, limited resources, and many unfunded mandates?
- Proven ability to articulate a compelling defense of informational
resources, and the importance of strong, impartial programs for their care
and management, to public officials, resource allocators, users, and the
general public.
- How would you explain to Congress and the executive branch the mission
and significance of NARA and its programs in order to ensure its strategic
positioning within the government?
- What steps would you take to secure the enhanced resources necessary
for NARA to fulfill its mission?
Management
- Proven ability as an administrator capable of managing an extensive
and diverse government agency with broad responsibilities, including an
ability to ensure effective implementation of NARA’s mandate and
efficiency and productivity in its operations and use of resources.
- Please explain your previous experience in managing large organizations
and what skills you would bring to this process.
- What is your management style and how do you implement it?
- Please provide some specifics on how you would manage NARA’s
crumbling buildings (particularly those leased from GSA), deteriorating
records requiring substantial assessment and stabilization, substantial
descriptive backlogs, and need for better assessment of and cooperative
transfer of agency holdings.
- How would you manage NARA’s need to capture the expertise long
held by soon-to-retire members of the agency’s aging workforce?
- Please explain your previous experience in working with internal foundations
and friends groups. What key skills do you have that would ensure successful
partnerships between NARA and these key groups?
- Experience in working effectively with legislators, government officials,
trustees, and government and private resource allocators in ways that ensure
adequate support for programs, even in time of financial stringency.
- Please explain your experience in working with the federal government
and how you would work with Congress, the courts, and the White House
to further archival issues, and specifically those related to NARA (e.g.,
records schedule compliance, the Electronic Records Archives, and needed
resources).
- Please explain your experience and skills in the resolution of intractable
problems, and give examples of your successes and failures in problem
resolution.
- Experience in seeking the advice and counsel of constituent and user
groups, including professional associations, and in responding to constituent
needs.
- Please explain your experience in working with the community of archival
users, including academic historians, tribes, lawyers, the press, federal
agency staff, educators and students, veterans, cultures and communities
documented in federal records, local and family historians, publishers,
and others. What key skills do you have that would ensure successful
partnerships with these various user groups?
- Please explain your experience in managing, requesting funds from,
and working collaboratively with fundraising and distribution bodies
such as the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC),
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute for Museum
and Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA),
and private foundations. What key skills do you have that would ensure
successful partnerships with these bodies?
- Please explain your previous experience working with the local, national,
and international communities of archivists and records managers and
their professional organizations. What key skills do you have that would
ensure successful partnerships with these groups?
- Please explain your experience in working with consortia for description
(such as RLIN, OCLC), preservation (such as RAP and REALACT), and online
electronic publishing and exhibition work (such as OCLC and Online Library
of California). What key skills do you have that would ensure successful
partnerships with these groups?
- Commitment to working creatively with other offices of the federal
government, with state and local governments, and with other archival programs,
including those in foreign countries, to effectively address shared responsibilities
and concerns.
- What specific steps would you take to develop strong working relationships
with federal agencies and state and local governments?
- Please explain your experience in working with major archival collections
donors, including federal agencies as records creators. What skills do
you have that would ensure successful partnerships with such donors?
- What role should NARA play in the national and international archival
and records management communities, including professional associations?
- What role should NARA play in the international community of national
archives, including the International Congress on Archives?
- How should NARA be involved in the national and international archival
and records management standards-setting communities, such as NIST, NISO,
ARMA, and AIIM?
Professional Knowledge and Values
- Demonstrated commitment to protecting the professional integrity and
political non-partisanship of NARA as a governmental agency in carrying
out its essential functions.
- How would you protect NARA from political or partisan interference
in regard to such issues as establishment of presidential libraries,
access to public records, and government ownership and control of public
records?
- What are the biggest challenges facing the archival and records management
professions in the 21st century?
- Unquestioned commitment to open and equal access to governmental records
by all citizens, in accordance with all governmental regulations and in
compliance with privacy protections for individuals.
- How should NARA work to maintain a balance between access and usage
restrictions, including new antiterrorism legislation and the USA PATRIOT
Act, and the public’s right to protect the privacy of their own
records and to access records of their federal government?
- How would you make NARA more relevant to the general public and build
support for NARA’s needs?
- What is your viewpoint on the recent copyright term extensions? How
might the U.S. best balance copyright creators’ rights to gain
an equitable benefit from their work against the need for a public domain
of copyright-free work to foster public creativity as described in the
U.S. Constitution?
- What is your viewpoint on proposals for cultural copyright or cultural
privacy laws to protect tribal cultural patrimony in the U.S.? How best
might the U.S. balance the wishes of numerous tribal and cultural groups
for a form of cultural protection scheme (as proposed by UNESCO or as
currently is law in Australia, New Zealand, and Panama) and the need
for a broad public domain to foster public creativity as described in
the U.S. Constitution?
- Strong commitment to the principles of public ownership of governmental
records and to the goal of holding public leaders accountable to the people
through documentation and records of their actions.
- How might NARA convince courts, Congress, the White House, and the
public that an open democracy requires the speedy availability of federal
records to all interested citizens?
- What measures would you take to ensure the political and ideological
independence of NARA when confronted by political demands or pressures?
- Please discuss your commitment to the provisions of the Presidential
Records Act and other legislation that provides for public ownership
of governmental records.
Personal Expertise and Reputation
- Knowledge and understanding of the critical issues confronting NARA
and the archival profession generally, especially the challenges of information
technology, and the competing demands of public access to government records,
privacy, homeland security, and ensuring the authenticity and integrity
of all public records.
- Please describe your previous experience with archives and records
management in the United States or abroad. Would you please characterize
this as a user, a manager, a partner, or a stakeholder, and explain your
response?
- Please describe your previous experience with the National Archives
and Records Administration and characterize this experience. What, if
anything, did you find notable or interesting in this experience?
- Please describe your experience and knowledge of electronic records
issues. Why is electronic records management crucial to the federal government,
to NARA, and to the nation? What useful initiatives are either underway
or should be developed to create standards, systems, organizations, consortia,
protocols, best practices, and procedures to deal with these records?
- A reputation for excellence, leadership, and effectiveness within the
individual’s profession including appropriate scholarly credentials,
and sufficient national stature to enable the Archivist to be seen as a
leader by a wide range of constituent groups.
- Why are you interested in this position? What will you bring to the
job that will make a difference to NARA, the archival and records management
professions, records-creating organizations/individuals, and NARA’s
users and stakeholders?
- What professional credentials and experience best prepare you for
the position of Archivist of the United States?
- As an academic historian, how will you ensure that the needs and concerns
of other interest groups—including legal researchers, genealogists,
public officials, and private citizens—receive adequate support
and attention?
- How would you apply ethical principles, such as those articulated
in the Society of American Archivists’ Code of Ethics, to the operation
of NARA in respect to relations with donors and records-creating agencies,
restrictions on access, appraisal, description, privacy, and research
use?
See also:
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