George W. Bush Presidential Library Electronic Records

Alan Lowe

April 24, 2012

George W. Bush Presidential Library Temporary Facility

Lewisville, TX

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George W. Bush Presidential Library Permanent Facility

Dallas, Texas

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Archives 19 Archivists, Archives

Specialists, and Archives Technicians Currently processing

textual records under the Presidential Records Act and Freedom of Information Act

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Systematic Processing Plan

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EOP ERA at Bush 43 80 Terabytes, which includes:

More than 200 million emails

Over 4 million digital photographs

Shared drives Scheduling assets, including

the metadata compiling the President’s Daily Diary

Additional digital assets ingested throughout other parts of the Executive Office of the President.

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Email Searching

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Email Searching (Cont.)

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Photo Searching

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Photo Searching (Cont.)

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Electronic Records Processing Plan Segments of Emails:

Focus on Important Events (i.e., 9/11) For instance, process a staff member’s emails regarding

a major event during a span of time.

Mirror Systematic Processing Plan Emails from the Freedom Corps during a span of time.

Press Releases This is where the full set of press releases exists in one

distinguishable series.

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Electronic Records Processing Plan (Cont.)

Additional Search and Access Sets (SASes) Photos

We have uploaded photos to OPA, but not yet through EOP ERA.

WH Office of Records Management Subject Files

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Business Issues for Bush 43 FOIA – we must be prepared for FOIA on 1/20/14 Redaction Tool

Needed to begin fully processing electronic records. Consistency of Review

Review is subjective; match with textual records. Classified Instance

Currently on stand-alone servers in Washington, DC. Bush 43 Library will need a copy of this instance on-site

before January 20, 2014.

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EOP ERA, Bush 43, and OPA: Partnership Things to Consider:

OPA Storage Capacity ERA BRG Prioritized Task Digital Photos

Public Release Formats Successful Partnership is Vitally Important to

Bush 43

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In Closing Immense Volume of Electronic Records

FOIA drives our concern – records accessible via FOIA on Jan. 20, 2014

Desire to begin fully processing these records, and making a portion of them available to the public by April 2013

Long-term strategy and tools to make significant portions accessible

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Thank you

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FOIA/Public Access Development in EOP ERA

Sam McClure

April 24, 2012

EOP ERA Development in 2011 Support for public access review our top priority in last

year of original contract Working group of ERA staff, EOP ERA users from DC area, Bush

Library archivists, and Presidential Libraries staff

FOIA review capabilities deployed by LMC in September 2011

Remaining Issues Acquisition of standalone redaction tool Automated means of making EOP ERA output available in OPA

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FOIA/public access review enhancements in EOP ERA Archivists can update the metadata of individual assets in

EOP ERA to support output for public access Access decisions of Release, Withhold in Part, or Withhold in Full Citation of the relevant PRA restriction and FOIA exemption The FOIA case number for which this decision is made

Each asset already has metadata (added at ingest) indicating its records status and to what set of records it belongs For example, an email knows it’s a Bush Presidential email from the

“Exchange Email” Search and Access Set

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FOIA/public access review enhancements in EOP ERA Archivists can generate electronic output from EOP ERA

based on their access review decisions Dossiers in system to manage work on FOIA cases Output packages as .zip files Copies of assets released in full (in their original formats) Withdrawal sheets (as .EML files for emails, plain text files for all

other format types) for all assets withheld in part or in full Redactions (image files) for assets withheld in part (pending

purchase of redaction tool) Every withdrawal sheet and redaction will be associated (via system-

generated metadata) with their corresponding original assets

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Redaction We are in process of testing and purchasing this standalone

tool for archivists using EOP ERA to process electronic records for public access Based on software used by intelligence agencies Testing by EOP ERA archivists in DC area first Testing by Bush Library staff next Purchase and deploy

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EOP ERA Priorities in New Contract EOP ERA user community representation on Business

Requirements Group (BRG) Office of Presidential Libraries George W. Bush Library Presidential Materials Division

Our top priority this year is to make EOP ERA records available through OPA

Task given high priority by BRG and NARA management

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Current EOP ERA Work Making EOP ERA output available in OPA

Working group of EOP ERA users from DC area, Bush Library archivists, OPA staff, ERA staff, and Presidential Libraries staff Developing documentation (Vision, Concept of Operations, Assumptions, High-

Level Requirements) to define task for vendor

Goal is to have EOP ERA records included in April 2013 opening

These capabilities, when deployed, will allow EOP ERA to support processing of other bodies of electronic records for online public access

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