NARA Launches New Center for Digitizing Paper Records

The National Archives and Records Administration has established a new digitization center equipped with capabilities designed to accelerate the process of turning 13 billion historical paper records into digital ones.

The center, located in College Park, Maryland, features high-speed scanners and overhead camera systems that can support the digitization of various record types and formats 10 times faster than previous methods, NARA said.

With the new facility, NARA expects to increase public access to federal government records as digitized documents can be seen online from any location.

Colleen Shogan, archivist of the United States, said the site will contribute to the National Archives’ mission to preserve, protect and share the country’s records.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the launch of the new center, which is currently focused on the Alaska Digitization Project, the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection and the City Survey Files, among other priority projects.

NARA plans to improve the facility in the future, including by adding cold storage space for fragile records.