Few in government know “paperwork” quite like the staff of the National Archives. 

There, at the cavernous Archives II building on the outskirts of the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park, paper stacks are not something to be feared, but to be revered.

Unlike much of the federal bureaucracy, the National Archives and Records Administration isn’t in the business of eliminating its paper trails so much as making them last. The way to do that is by digitizing many of its 13 billion records with its own staff, equipment and gumption. Currently, only about 275 million, or 2%, is digitally catalogued. 

Much of NARA’s original textual records are available for viewing in-person only, or by requesting reproductions. The way the agency sees it, those invaluable original documents don’t do much good locked away in a temperature-controlled, gray-painted room.

So, by September 2026, NARA is aiming to digitize 500 million pages of records, and even more thereafter. It’s a herculean effort that wouldn’t be possible without the new $20 million, 18,000-square-foot Digitization Center located within a remodeled space in Archives II that is replete with text-scanning equipment, work space, sensitive cameras and upgrades to keep light and humidity damage to a minimum.

“With new high-speed scanners and a dedicated team of digitization staff, this new center is a game changer for the National Archives,” said Colleen Shogan, the 11th archivist of the U.S., on April 12 at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “It provides us a tenfold increase in our in-house scanning capacity and will help us make millions of original records accessible online for Americans everywhere.”

NARA’s plan fits within the Biden administration’s broader goal to lead a transparent, accessible and modern government. A number of executives ordersand memos have come down from the White House prodding agencies to have a digital presence that makes the public service experience seamless and efficient.For NARA, it’s not just about making the “cool” records searchable; it’s also about maintaining critical military records of past and present conflicts, preserving legal decisions for attorneys and researchers, and storing property records of places long since forgotten.

You can read more in an article by Molly Weisner published in the federaltimes.com web site at: https://bit.ly/3W30lpi.