Does anyone else find it ironic that the Director has chosen to fire/relocate 7 staff affiliated with library functions, but will be hiring 26 people to "to improve government-wide and internal electronic recordkeeping" and "to improve research room holdings protection in the Washington, DC, area."  I'm sure there is a logical explanation out there somewhere (sarcasm), but I bet the 7 chosen ones aren't seeing it.

My 2 cents worth.

Frances Piesbergen
Reference Leadership Team/
Serials Coordinator 
Thomas Jefferson Library     ph. (314) 516-5084
Univ. of MO - St. Louis       fax: (314) 516-5853
One University Blvd.            e-m:  sfrpies@umsl.edu
St. Louis, MO  63121

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Michele Pope
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:42 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] [law-lib] FW: NARA Library abolished Archivist Memo 2011-113

Please see below.

Michele Pope
Serials/Government Documents Librarian
Loyola University Law Library
7214 St. Charles Avenue
Campus Box 903
New Orleans, LA 70118
T(504) 861-5546
F(504) 861-5895

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of Government Document Issues
[mailto:GOVDOC-L@lists.psu.edu] On Behalf Of Bernadine Abbott Hoduski
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 1:07 PM
To: GOVDOC-L@lists.psu.edu
Subject: NARA Library abolished Archivist Memo 2011-113

Hello All,
The Archivist of the United States has issued Memo 2011-113, which announces

the abolishment of the National Archives Library by the end of this fiscal
year.
I went to the NARA site and found the Archives Library Information Center
(ALIC) to find the number and jobs of the staff and the services provided.
This center is heavily used by historians, genealogists and others. Check it

out youself.

The library is part of the by-law program run by GPO and is entitled to all
the government publications issued through the GPO.  The library collects
publications such as phone directories and other publications that concern
personnel.  These types of publications usually do not go to depository
libraries or if they are, they are discarded when the new edition is issued.

NARA keeps those older editions and these are invaluable to researchers and
genealogists as well as agency historians.
 Since some of the planning for the future of the depository library program

has depended upon back up collections at NARA and LC and the national
libraries, it is important to know what will happen to the collections held
by ALIC.  Will they be kept by NARA and sent to other units or will they be
discarded? Will librarians throughout the world be able to borrow those
publications and will they be able to send researchers to NARA in DC to do
research?  The staff at ALIC have provided excellent service and have
created on line tools to help researchers more easily find both govenrment
documents and other resources.  Who will provide this service once these
librarians are gone?

It is important to know what will happen to RG 287 (This is the collection
of  several million government documents collected and cataloged by GPO.
The collection was transfered from the Department of Interior in 1895 to GPO

and was organized by Adelaide Hasse.  It was transferred to NARA by GPO in
1972 so it would be permanently protected as government records).  RG287 is
under the control of NARA Legislative Archives.  It is not clear where RG287

is housed and whether it is kept as one unit or scattered among various
units of NARA.  It is not clear as to who is providing service to this
collection.  It would make sense to transfer library staff most familiar
with government documents to legislative archives so that the nation can
continue to benefit from the expertise and knowledge of librarians at NARA.

As we all know as librarians, libraries are often the first to be cut in an
economic crisis.  We also know that once the resources in these libraries
are lost they are almost impossible to replace.

 I have listed the names and positions of the library staff below along with

the memo from the Archivist. Please send this message on to your state
association list serves and other organizations.

Bernadine Abbott Hoduski  4942 Walnut 1 S, K. C. MO 64112  816-442-7153
ber@montana.com

 National Archives Library (ALIC) abolished -  Archivist Memo 2011-113

 7 positions to be eliminated:
 Current Library employees:
   1. Jeff Hartley [Chief Librarian]
   2. Carolyn Gilliam [Reference]
   3. Randall Fortson [Reference A2]
   4. Torin Pollock [Technician]
   5. Melissa Copp [Cataloger]
   6. Nancy Wing [Reference head A1] (Military)
   7. Tim Syzek [Reference (Military)]
   8. Marquetta Troy [Technician]
   9. Maryellen Trautman [Documents Cataloger-By Law]

 NARA Notice 2011-113Date: February 14, 2011
 To: All Employees
 Subject: President Requests $422M for National Archives 2012 Budget
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
 President Barack Obama today sent to Congress a proposed Fiscal Year
2012budget request for the Federal Government that calls for $422,501,000
forthe National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The requested
amount for NARA is an 8.2 percent decrease from the FY 2011President's
Budget request of $460,287,000.  NARA still has not received anannual
appropriation for FY 2011 and we are operating under ContinuingResolution
Authority that holds our spending to FY 2010 levels. This is a difficult
budget climate that has required extraordinary actionssuch as freezing
Federal Government civilian employee pay for two years.NARA's budget
reflects that reality.  However, with the resources provided,we will be able

meet our vital mission to preserve the nation's importantrecords and make
them accessible to the public as soon as possible. The greatest budget
savings will come from the earlier decision to stopdevelopment of the
Electronic Records Archives (ERA) and move directly intoan operations and
maintenance mode.  This transition at the end of FY 2011will reduce program
expenditures by $36,300,000.  Beginning in FY 2012, ERAwill become an
operational system and will be moved back into the OperatingExpenses (OE)
appropriation. In FY 2012, the President is requesting $403,742,000 for the
merged OE andERA appropriation.  This is a net decrease of 7 percent or
$30,447,000 fromthe combined FY 2011 President's Request for OE and ERA of
$434,189,000.While the majority of the decrease is within the ERA program,
we followedAdministration guidance to reduce or eliminate a variety of
programs insteadof taking across the board cuts to ensure that available
resources are goingtowards our most critical mission requirements.   These
reductions weretaken to meet budget targets set by the Office of Management
and Budget.Many of you will ask how this budget will affect our
transformation efforts.Our budget realities are evolving, and of course,
affect how much we can doand on what timetable. Any impact of the Federal
budget environment isseparate from the transformation, but the
transformation is all the moreimportant because of it. Two of the cuts taken

to meet our budget target affect NARA staff.  Aftermuch analysis and
deliberation, we have decided to close The NationalArchives at
Boston-Pittsfield Annex, effective October 1, 2011.  Thisfacility houses
Archives microfilm publications and public access computersserving about
1,800 researchers during the last fiscal year.  I regret that this decision
will affect two long-time Archives employees who run thiscenter. They will
be offered other positions at other facilities within theNational Archives
system and we will pay their relocation expenses. In addition, we will
reduce the scope of the Archives Library InformationCenter (ALIC), currently

operating out of Archives I and Archives II, by theend of FY 2011.  This
move affects seven staff members, who will be offeredother opportunities at
NARA, and will curtail costs associated with addingto the ALIC collection.
ALIC was originally designed and staffed to meetthe information needs of
NARA staff members, and it currently helps supportpublic archival research.
Reference materials from the ALIC space atArchives I will be relocated to
assist consultation in Archives I researchrooms and to provide a continuing
presence at Archives II.  Our on-linelibrary reference services will become
the primary information resource forstaff. In no way do these difficult
changes reflect on the staff affected by thesecuts.  Their dedication to
their profession in performing this work over theyears is greatly
appreciated.  These staff-at both Pittsfield and ALIC-havebeen supported by
students and volunteers over the years and, in some cases,for decades. Our
appreciation also recognizes their efforts. New priorities that we will be
able to accommodate within available fundinginclude: hiring 15 new employees

to improve government-wide and internalelectronic recordkeeping; obtaining
storage space for archival records toaddress the critical shortage of
records storage space in the Washington,DC, area; supporting records storage

space requirements for archival recordsat the new National Personnel Records

Center in St. Louis, MO; continuing tobuild and expand the IT infrastructure

for the National DeclassificationCenter; and hiring 11 employees to improve
research room holdings protectionin the Washington, DC, area. The President
also recommends a 3.5 percent decrease in the budget forNARA's Inspector
General, which returns their funding to FY 2010 levels of$4,100,000. For
Repairs and Restoration (R&R) to NARA-owned buildings, the President
isseeking $9,659,000, a decrease of 18.5 percent from the FY 2011
request.These resources will be applied to NARA's base R&R requirements.
The Budgetalso requests the removal of restrictions placed on $6,341,000 in
previousfiscal year building project funding.  We will use $341,000 to
support baseR&R requirements and the remaining $6,000,000 will be used for
the toppriority project in NARA's Capital Improvements Plan, which calls
forchanges to the infrastructure on the ground floor of the National
ArchivesBuilding in Washington.  This will complete the work planned to
begin in FY2011 with Congressional support to prepare the infrastructure for

creationof an orientation plaza to improve visitor circulation to the
Charters ofFreedom, Public Vaults, McGowan Theater, and Lawrence F. O'Brien
Gallerytemporary exhibit gallery.  It will also create space for a new
Freedom Hallgallery and expand the  gift shop.  The Foundation for the
National Archiveshas committed to raising matching funds for this project.
For the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC),the
grant-making arm of the National Archives, we will be able to maintain
aviable grant program with the President's $5,000,000 request for
thisprogram.  This is a 50 percent reduction from the FY 2011 request. DAVID

S. FERRIERO Archivist of the United States
For questions on this notice contact:Richard Judson, NA
richard.judson@nara.gov 2300, Archives II>

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