To the list:
The following long essay is from the National Archives and is about a
proposal to raise their copying fees.
Please read it CAREFULLY!
The Readers Digest Condensed Version is that if you go there to make
copies, under the fee change it will cost you 15 cents per copy instead of
the 10 cents now charged.
Copies ordered with Form 80 -- that includes most of what the genealogist
requests from the NARA -- will increase but we will now get the WHOLE file,
not the 15-20 pages they send at the present time. The fee will change to
$40.
Again, please read this carefully. An address and fax number are
included for your comments.
CeCe Taylor
AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
SUMMARY: NARA proposes to revise its schedule of fees for reproduction of
records and other materials in the custody of the Archivist of the United
States. This proposed rule covers reproduction of Federal
records created by other agencies that are in the National Archives of the
United States, donated historical materials, Presidential records,
Nixon Presidential historical materials, certain Federal agency records in
NARA Federal records centers, and records filed with the Office of
the Federal Register. The fees are being changed to reflect current costs of
providing the reproductions. This rule will affect members of
the public and Federal agencies who order reproductions from NARA.
DATES: Comments must be received by June 26, 2000.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Regulation Comment Desk (NPLN), Room 4100,
National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD
20740-6001. Comments may also be faxed to (301)713-7270.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Allard on (301)713-7360.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The fees for reproduction of records in 36 CFR Part 1258 are set under
the Archivist's authority in 44 U.S.C. 2116(c). That statute requires that,
to the extent possible, NARA recover the actual cost of
making copies of records and other materials transferred to the custody of
the Archivist of the United States. In determining these costs, NARA
has considered only the order handling, materials and equipment, shipping,
and the labor costs directly associated with making the reproduction.
NARA last revised the reproduction fee schedule in 1997 on the basis of a
cost study conducted in 1995 and 1996. Since 1997, NARA costs have increased
because of higher materials and shipping costs and
mandatory cost of living adjustments to staff salaries. Despite these
increases, the proposed fees for many products fulfilled by mail order
will remain the same or increase only slightly. The following sections of
this SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION discuss where we are proposing significant
changes in fees.
Fees for Self-service Copies
Fees for self-service paper-to-paper and microfilm-to-paper copies, which
represent approximately 46 percent of our reproduction volume, must increase
by 5 cents each to recover NARA's costs. This is the
first such increase in 10 years. The fee for self-service paper-to-paper
copies will be 15 cents per copy. The fee for self-service microfilm-to-paper
copies will be 30 cents per copy.
Electrostatic and Microfilm Orders at Washington, DC, Area Facilities
We are discontinuing ``block'' pricing for standard electrostatic copy
and camera microfilm image reproduction orders at Washington, DC, area
facilities. With this pricing, the customer paid one fee for the initial
block of copies and a separate fee for each additional block of copies. Unit
pricing (per page) continued to be used at all regional
facilities and Presidential libraries. This pricing structure, imposed with
the July 1997 revision of the fee schedule, was intended to reduce the amount
of time spent by archival staff estimating the number of
pages to be copied when preparing quotes for researchers and to reduce the
amount of time spent by the Trust Fund staff in processing refunds
for overestimated copy counts and in pursuing debt collection for
underestimated copy counts. However, after years of unit pricing, our
customers found block pricing to be confusing. Staff members found that
they were now dependent upon charts to calculate quotes and the block sizes
were not large enough to significantly reduce the need for accurate page
counts. Finally, NARA's new order fulfillment system will not support block
pricing without extensive, and expensive, customization that would be passed
on to customers.
We propose to revert to unit pricing for these products nationwide. The
proposed unit pricing for both electrostatic copies (50 cents per copy) and
camera microfilm images (70 cents per image) is not changed from the 1997
unit cost on which the block prices were based. For camera microfilm images,
there will be no significant change in cost. Most camera microfilm customers
will pay the same or slightly less than they pay with block pricing.
The proposed pricing for electrostatic copies signifies no change in fee
for 90 percent of the copies sold nationwide. Customers who ordered copies
from the two NARA archival facilities in the Washington, DC, area (10 percent
of the total copies sold nationwide) are the only customers affected by the
proposed return to unit pricing. Under block
pricing, some orders had a discounted per unit cost because of the way that
the blocks were priced. Generally, only customers with larger orders (more
than 40 copies) will have an increase in the cost of their orders.
[[Page 24165]]
Fixed-fee Orders
NARA uses specialized forms (NATF-80 series of forms) to handle requests
for reproductions of certain types of records with high reference volume.
Each of these forms is used as part of a two-step process: (1) To search for
the requested file and, if found, make
copies; and (2) to bill the requesting researcher for the copies of the
records when the search is successful. Approximately 125,000 of these
requests are submitted to NARA each year, of which 76,000 result in
reproductions.
We are making three changes in this fixed fee order program. First, we
propose to discontinue the practice of selecting documents and providing only
partial files. Now all fixed fee orders will include the entire file. The
most dramatic impact of this change will be that people who order military
pension files will receive much larger full
files that average 105 pages instead of a selection of 14-20 pages. When
searches based on the current NATF Form 80, Order for Copies of Veterans
Records, are successful, NARA's practice has been to select
and reproduce up to 20 pages which would be of most use for genealogical
research from the file. In order to obtain a copy of the full file, the
customer has had to prepare and send a separate request for the remaining
documents in the file, which was charged at the per-page price. While full
bounty land warrant application records and military service records
generally fall within the 20-page limit, the
average military pension file is 105 pages.
Our intent is to provide all customers with access to the complete
record responsive to their request. The selection process is not
consistent with NARA's overall reference practices, and misleads some
researchers that the selected pages constitute the entire file.
Increasing numbers of genealogical researchers have recognized that the
selected documents do not meet their needs. Receipt of copies of
selected records often leads to requests for the remaining pages in a
file. This results in many researchers submitting two separate
requests, doubling both the researcher's and NARA's time spent on the
reference transaction and increasing potential damage to the fragile
records through the more frequent handling.
The new procedure will immediately give the researcher all the
information about the soldier or sailor contained in the file. While
the 14 to 20 pages that were normally selected contained much useful
biographical information (such as general statement of service, the
names of wives and children, birth dates, and death dates), they by no
means tell the full story of a pensioner's case. Medical information
about continuing ailments resulting from war wounds or illnesses and
prolonged battles to obtain benefits are also of great interest to
family historians. These additional records round out the portrait of
the veteran and his family.
Second, we are replacing the NATF Form 80, Order for Copies of
Veterans Records, with two separate new forms to facilitate more
efficient service. NATF Form 85 (Order for Copies of Federal Pension or
Bounty Land Warrant Applications) and NATF Form 86 (Order for Copies of
Military Service Records) will replace NATF Form 80. This change will
also help researchers to understand the distinctions among the three
types of records. The military service records (ordered on NATF Form
86), the bounty land warrant application files (NATF Form 85), and the
pension files (also on NATF Form 85) share some of the same basic facts
about the person. But military service files rarely contain personal
information other than a physical description of the soldier and/or
medical information. They document the soldier's movements during the
war. Bounty land warrant applications and pension files contain
basically the same type of information because they were applications
for the same type of benefit. The soldier or widow provided a statement
of service that would qualify them for the bounty or the pension. The
claim may or may not include information about when the soldier was
married, the names and ages of children, etc. However, the pension
files are on average larger since they often cover a longer period of
government payments and they often have more supporting documents over
time. In addition, the bounty land warrant application files start
after the Revolutionary War and end in 1855. Bounty land applications
for the Revolutionary War are combined in the pension files and do not
exist as a separate series. The average Revolutionary War pension file
is 40 pages, including the bounty land warrant application. Unlike the
other pension files, Revolutionary War pension files are only available
on microfilm, which contributes to a higher labor cost for
reproduction. Each type of file is different because it was created for
a different purpose, at a different time, and in response to different
laws with different requirements.
In the third change, the fees for fixed fee orders will increase
for the first time since 1991. In past fee schedules, NARA has set a
uniform fee for the NATF Forms 80, 81, 83 and 84 that represents a
blending of the actual costs for providing those orders. In this fee
schedule we propose to set the fees for each type of order separately
to reflect the cost of each individual type of order. We specifically
invite your comments on this change.
By pricing each type of file separately, the ship passenger arrival
records (NATF Form 81) and the full bounty land warrant application
files (NATF Form 85) are $17.25, while the land records on the NATF
Form 84 are $17.75. Federal Census orders (NATF Form 82) and Eastern
Cherokee applications to the Court of Claims (NATF Form 83) are $17.50.
The fee for copies of full military service records (NATF Form 86) will
be $17.00 and the fee for copies of full federal pension files (NATF
Form 85) will be $40.
If we set blended fees, the fee for orders on NATF Forms 81, 82,
83, 84, and 86 would be $17.50. The fee for orders for full bounty land
warrants on NATF Form 85 would also be $17.50. The fee for orders for
federal pension files on NATF Form 85 would be $40.00 under either the
blended pricing or the individual pricing approach.
Finally, we propose to make this fee schedule effective September
1, 2000, as we indicate in proposed Sec. 1258.16.