The National Archives is now changing the
way we take custody of records from federal agencies. We are now using the Electronic Records Archives,
or ERA. ERA is not only a system for storing electronic
records. We are currently transferring permanent textual
records on a daily basis using ERA. Before ERA everything was paper-based. In the past, all textual records were transferred
via the SF-258. The process could easily take months. This paper form has been completely replaced
by an electronic process. The Department of the Navy has always tried
to be on what we call “the bleeding edge” of technology. We wanted to schedule some records in ERA
early on. With me here is the USNS Card deck log from
May of 1964. USNS Card, built in 1942, Tacoma, Washington. It was an escort carrier. Sank eight German submarines. In 1964 its job was to transport helicopters
to Saigon. We utilized the Electronic Records Archive
to first schedule these Military Sealift Command deck logs from a temporary, 50-year record
to now permanent, for the life of the Republic. “At approximately 0500 an explosion occurred
on the starboard side of the vessel’s hull below the waterline. Probably a swimmer swam to the ship and attached
a, what they call a limpet mine. It took 18 days of work to render the Card
seaworthy enough to be towed to Subic Bay for more extensive repair. I received an e-mail notification that a schedule
had been approved within ERA. The next thing we did, is we did a transfer
request within the ERA portal itself. So this is what Charley submitted to us, OK. We receive it in ERA and it goes from proposed
to ready for approval. ERA generates the transfer request number. The prefix will always be TR and a dash and
then a four-digit record group number, the fiscal year for which it’s being transferred,
the sequence in which it was created. And that’s how it’s tracked. So we’re looking at right now the approved
version of the transfer request. And this lists out all the transfer numbers
and the quantity of boxes. This title is the Military Sealift Command
Ship Deck Logs. We have the inclusive dates, so these records
cover many years, they cover 1947 to 1981. The contact information tab lists the person
who created the transfer and then who submitted the transfer and it happened to be Charley
Barth for both. Everything we’ve done with transfer requests,
everything we’ve done with scheduling, all the metadata is there, title, date created,
etcetera. Once the transfer request has been approved
we coordinate the transport of the records to the National Archives. Once we receive physical custody, we actually
have the boxes in the building and we verify the content of the boxes, we come back here
to ERA and we accept physical custody. In the paper process we had none of this visibility. They don’t have to pick up the phone and
call, they don’t have to send an e-mail, they don’t have to get voice mail you know
and wait for a response. ERA makes it possible for records managers
across the government to follow the transfer process every step of the way as records are
transferred to the National Archives.
