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National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

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Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#41

Post by atrettel »

IvyMike wrote: post #30

From the site: > All researchers must apply and present a researcher card, which may be obtained in Room 1000. This ensures that proper identification is on file for all individuals accessing the building to establish a legitimate business purpose. Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities.…

I've been to NARA 2 in College Park several times. I'm reading this as meaning that only researchers who will request records can enter the building now. The statement seems to be clumsily worded.

It suffices to say that it would be hard to justify closing down NARA 2 for researcher access. Room 2000 is the main reading room and it is one of the largest reading rooms I have ever been in. The building was built for people to come and visit and do research.

NARA 2 is a high security facility as it is. The last time that I visited was in 2019. You are searched one time upon entering the building. You (as a researcher) enter and go down to a large basement locker room where you can place most of your items in a locker. You can take a laptop and a scanner/camera to the first floor, get searched another time, then go up an elevator to the Room 2000, get searched again, and then take a seat and request materials (using triplicate forms, the last time I was there). You are searched again upon leaving the reading room.

Based on my experience, it sounds like they are going to remove one of the searches and put it at the entrance rather than at the elevators for the second floor, though I admit this is speculation.

The more difficult aspect would be having no parking access at the facility itself and having to take a bus there. I've taken the Metrobus to NARA 2 before and it was quite complicated the last time I went there, and I generally like public transportation. Every time I visited after that, I drove and parked in the garage, usually on the roof. That said, I can learn to manage the bus.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#42

Post by cogman10 »

pwinkeler wrote: post #39
efitz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was surprised when I saw this article and realized that until now anyone could just walk in off the street.

Why surprised? Didn't US taxpayers pay for the collection of all this information? Now only those with "legitimate" interest can get access? I would very much like to know what the reasoning behind this move is. Although I suspect that as per usual, a reason will not be forthcoming. But who knows, perhaps the Epstein files are now being kept there, LOL?

I dislike the fact that people are so hostile to the idea of public goods/services/places. It's really sad that free access to information is something anyone would find crazy or objectionable.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#43

Post by vkou »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #21
treetalker wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abandon all hope, ye who seek reflective reasoning from this government. But my guess is that less public access to national information helps, and does not hinder, a speed-run to autocracy.

I dunno. I'm very much not a Trump fan, but I don't see how restricting access to "national information" would help him. And if it would, how does restricting access to one of them help him? I could more see this as being just random action without any real purpose, or aimed at petty revenge on someone, or something.

It doesn't need to 'help him', he is sufficiently motivated to do stuff for the simple reason that it hurts people he sees as enemies.

He has a record as long as his public life of being capricious, vindictive, and petty. This is ancient, settled history by this point, as clear as the sun rising in the East.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#44

Post by dengxiaopeng »

IvyMike wrote: post #30

From the site: > All researchers must apply and present a researcher card, which may be obtained in Room 1000. This ensures that proper identification is on file for all individuals accessing the building to establish a legitimate business purpose. Abuse of any researcher registration to circumvent access by the general public may result in a trespass situation and a permanent ban from access to all NARA facilities.…

My partner works for NARA, but not in this office. Outside of the large amount of departures and RIF actions taken for the agency, there's lots of challenges regarding staffing for people who come in off the street and do not have succinct, coherent research questions. Staff are duty-bound to respond to all queries, regardless of how good they are.

I imagine this research card policy does two things:

1. Raises an easy bureaucratic barrier for people who just drop in and expect/demand help

2. Gives staff an opportunity to refuse access to people who may have non-research intent from accessing the building

It's likely the example you provided qualifies as a business need. They just don't want you hanging around and getting in the way of them helping people who scheduled a consultation, have an appointment, etc.

Totally agree on the poorly-constructed sentence. I wish they had said it more succinctly/precisely.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#45

Post by vkou »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #40
goda90 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every aspect of government should provide the public with rationale for its actions unless providing that rationale is an actual threat to national security or an individual's freedoms. And any time they can't provide rationale for those reasons, an independent agency should review them confidentially. You can't have government by the people, for the people, of the people without accountability.

This is the sort of bureaucratic nonsense people actually rail against. You're assuming you'd get something truthful or informative out of that process, when in reality you'll get the opposite due to the inherit (dis)incentives.

Right, I guess we should throw up our hands and let the dictator of the week run things as he sees, with no oversight.

If it meaningfully impacts the public, the public should have input. The input doesn't need to be binding, but it needs to be taken into consideration. Representative government is not a once-every-four-years exercise, nor is it something that should only be accessible to the mega-rich.

There's an entire process for this among many rule-making agencies in every level of government, across the world. It serves as, at minimum, a public record of objections and concerns, and at times that public feedback identifies a problem that the rule-drafters failed to address.

It doesn't, and can't prevent outright malice by a capricious autocrat, who only works to make his backroom friends happy. But it does make a public record of that malice.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#46

Post by Molitor5901 »

I have a researcher card, it's not an arduous process. The staff are very kind. When you show up to the National Archives in Washington, DC., prepare to encounter a general group of 2 dozen pros carrying scanners, laptops, etc. It's quite the experience.

I don't see this is that big of a deal. It's open, you can access it, but they are controlling more. Given the propensity for the theft and destruction of archives documents in the past, I'm ok with more security.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#48

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

efitz wrote: post #33
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in the UK some institutions like the national library of scotland are so-called "copyright libraries" and they have always restricted access to people who register and declare an interest grounded in research As an 8yo, I'd walk into the US Library of Congress alone and ask for rare books. I like this way best.

Until some random crazy person exercises the same right and destroys an irreplaceable rare book. You have to get a library card for the library. I don’t see why there is so much outrage over this, and I think the timing is more about budget cuts than about Trump [caveat- firing the archivist might have been personal]. I find the arguments that “he just wants to sow distrust” etc. are completely unbelievable; he has b…

> Until some random crazy person exercises the same right and destroys an irreplaceable rare book.

In considering the LOC's multi-century existence, this parade of horribles never manifested as a meaningful risk. It remains limited to select imaginations.

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#49

Post by zzleeper »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #15

Can we update the title to National Archives at College Park, MD to restrict public access starting July 7 ?

TBF the College Parks location is by far the most important one; the most visited one; and the one that holds the most interesting stuff. Never met anyone who went to the Kansas one or whatever

Re: National Archives at College Park, MD, will become a restricted federal facility

#50

Post by mschuster91 »

LastTrain wrote: post #24
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno. I'm very much not a Trump fan, but I don't see how restricting access to "national information" would help him. And if it would, how does restricting access to one of them help him? I could more see this as being just random action without any real purpose, or aimed at petty revenge on someone, or something.

Everything they do is meant to sew mistrust. It doesn’t need to have any other benefit. I don’t think they are trying to hide anything, and I don’t think this is about staffing - they just want to wreck government and your trust in it.

> they just want to wreck government and your trust in it.

... and eventually, privatize the wreckage or cut even more services because it's obviously "not working out".

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