Federal employees should think twice before deleting their e-mail files. In a new directive, the National Archives and Records Administration requires agencies to save electronic records that were previously kept only in paper format.
NARA bulletin 99-04, issued on March 25, repeals an old rule allowing agencies to delete electronic files if they kept hard copies of the records. A federal judge invalidated this practice in October 1997 in a case involving NARA and Public Citizen, a watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader.
Public Citizen argued that electronic files contain information lost in the printed version of records. But the decision in the group's favor is currently under appeal. In the meantime, NARA has alerted agencies to the new steps they must take to preserve electronic records.
Agencies have until February 1, 2000 to submit to NARA a plan outlining how they will include electronic files in their current record schedules, or to simply submit new schedules that cover electronic files. NARA has not provided agencies any guidance in determining which electronic records to store. Agencies needing more time to submit a plan may request an extension from NARA.
According to Michael Tankersley, staff attorney at Public Citizen, the bulletin lacks important details. "They've set up a system whereby agencies pretty much have to guess what to schedule," he said.
Agencies also were given an excessive amount of time to submit new schedules for archiving electronic files, Tankersley said. The only reason an agency would need two years to complete a plan, he said, is "because they haven't done anything up to this date and they're not planning to tackle the problem aggressively at this stage."
Beginning in April, NARA will offer free help with plan or schedule development to agency records officers. More information on the training is included in bulletin 99-04.
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