Since I started this subject I'll make an addendum but with the proviso
that it is not my hope for this thread to go on ad infinitum.

I personally have no ax to grind against NARA or any other Archives. I
am a strong supporter of Archives & Research Libraries.  The only real
bone of contention I have is that NARA does not seem to be addressing
their root problem with their proposed solution.  They rightly
referenced what I see as the root problem but the proposed solution only
solves a short term problem.

The core problem for NARA (and most Archives) is inadequate funding and
rapidly rising costs.  Cutting hours of patron access may address a
short term budget issue but in the long term will do nothing to hedge
rising costs.  Another poster made an excellent point challenging us to
let our Senators & Representatives know of our support for the National
Archives.  We absolutely should respectfully let them know we believe
NARA should receive better funding than now  provided.  That should not
be a one time thing.  We should continue to lobby our representative and
encourage other researchers to do likewise.  By the way, we should also
do that for the benefit of our respective State Archives.

I personally think NARA will politically have a harder time justifying
Funding Increases in the future if the comparable utilization of the
facilities falls because 20% of their current patrons simply do not have
the ability to conduct research during "normal business hours".  A
common sense approach to making Archival Research *more* accessible
rather than less accessible should have been considered.  A broader &
deeper Patron base makes, in and of itself, the case for better funding
given the current political process.

One of the main complaints against any Archive  is that they tend to
cater to the "elite academes" and "professional researchers" and not the
common man.  Whether that is true or not, it is a common perception.
Eliminating night & weekend hours plays right into that perception.

There is an old maxim that you get the results that you plan for.  The
current policy of no record pulls after 3:30 and none on Saturday would
logically result in fewer researchers Nights & Saturdays.  The proposed
new Hours Policy will likewise result in consequences that don't appear
to have been all that well thought through and considered.  If the
present course is continued then what does NARA one day become but the
Museum of the American Document and not a research archive.

So then, how does NARA tackle its real issues of better funding in the
long term and generating a broader more enthusiastic patron base willing
to lobby their legislators to provide that funding?

It might be better if further public discussion of this subject end in
consideration of the VA-Roots list.

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