Judge Chastises U.S. Archivist
over Electronic Records
A federal judge chastised U.S. Archivist John Carlin March 25 for failing to comply with an order to develop guidelines on when federal agencies may purge records from their computers. However, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman withdrew a threat to hold Carlin in contempt for failing to submit a "timely" response to the order.
The dispute started last year when Public Citizen and other groups, including ALA, went to court to challenge a directive issued by Carlin authorizing all federal agencies, at their discretion, to destroy electronic records if they retain a hard copy.
Last October Friedman ruled that Carlin's directive violated federal records-keeping law. Recently the plaintiffs returned to court, charging that the National Archives had failed to comply with the judge's order. "The problem is that the archives has been delaying for years getting down to the business of distinguishing between what are important electronic records and what are not,'' said Public Citizen's attorney Michael Tankersley.
Posted March 30, 1998.
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