We hope that you will be able to join us for the next meeting of the Researcher Users Group—now named the National Archives Researcher Forum, to be led by Jen Nelson, Acting Executive for Research Services. It will be held on Friday, September 16, at 1:00 p.m. in Room 105 at Archives I. There are two items on the agenda: (1) a brainstorming session on how you wish to move forward with the Researcher Forum, so please come prepared to share your ideas, and (2) a discussion with NARA’s digitization partners. Sabrina Petersen and Echo King from Ancestry.com; Brian Hansen from Fold3 (formerly Footnote.com); and Emily Schultz from FamilySearch.org. Attendees may enter the National Archives Building via the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance.
I have two points about this meeting. First, I wonder how many individuals found out about this meeting by visiting NARAtions. I found out about the meeting from an individual who got an e-mail from someone at NARA. Second, I hope the person representing the digitization partners is able to do more than take notes that will be forwarded to management for consideration. We need to hear from an individual who can explain the past decisions and have the authority to approve changes to the design and operation of systems such as Ancestry and fold3.
Hi, Harold. Thanks for your message. It sounds like you’re interested in a conversation with our digitization partners. That’s exactly what we intend! I’m sure that they’ll take notes as reminders of conversation. NARA staff take notes that we post online. About your first point, question: you do have suggestions for more ways that we can spread the word aboutthe meetings, in addition to archives.gov, NARAtions, and our Researcher News issues? I’m all ears.
–Jen