NARA’s New Digitization Center to Convert Records 10x Faster

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland, has unveiled a new digitization center, marking a significant milestone in enhancing public access to crucial federal government records. 

Equipped with state-of-the-art technology including high-speed scanners and advanced overhead camera systems capable of handling diverse record types and formats, the new center promises to revolutionize the digitization process.

With this advanced equipment, NARA aims to digitize records at a rate up to ten times faster than before, facilitating access to millions of additional records annually.

Given NARA's vast repository of over 13 billion paper records, expediting digitization is crucial in fulfilling the agency's mandate of providing comprehensive access to federal records.

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, Representative Steny Hoyer, and Representative Glenn Ivey joined Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan to inaugurate the center.

“With new high-speed scanners and a dedicated team of digitization staff, this new Center is a game changer for the National Archives. It provides us with a ten-fold increase in our in-house scanning capacity and will help us make millions of original records accessible online for Americans everywhere,” Shogan said. 

“Preserving—and learning from—our history plays a key role in our democracy. NARA is critical in this effort—archiving our nation’s treasured documents to ensure they’re accessible for generations to come. That’s why I worked to secure funding to support NARA’s new digitization center. Through this center and their expanded digitization efforts, Americans will be able to quickly and conveniently gain online access to more of the deep history that NARA holds,” Senator Van Hollen added.