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Celebrating 25 Years

GCN Home > 10/11/04 issue

Carlin goes the distance for NARA

By Edmund X. DeJesus, Special to GCN

Eight billion pieces of paper in three million cubic feet of storage. Four billion logical data records, along with 35 million still pictures, 18 million aerial photographs, 5 million maps and charts, 207,000 sound recordings and 93,000 motion picture films. Not to mention the Declaration of Independence.

The responsibilities of the National Archives and Records Administration are daunting by any standard. In charge of managing the essential documents that define America, the independent federal agency also responds to more than 13 million government and 2 million public requests for information annually.

All this is done under the critical scrutiny of stakeholders that include other agencies, historians, attorneys, journalists, veterans and lots of people trying to find their long-lost relatives.

John Carlin, named this year to the GCN Hall of Fame, was appointed the ninth chief archivist in 1995. He took over an agency with serious challenges, including swelling volumes of records requiring costly space, increasing user requests and the swiftly changing technological landscape.

Furthermore, his appointment was opposed outright by some who felt that his lack of specific experience as an archivist was a disadvantage.

But Carlin had a lot of other ex- periences. He served as a Kansas state representative, including three years as speaker of the House. He was governor of Kansas for eight years, during which he made significant contributions to the state’s historical preservation efforts.

He taught at several colleges, including the University of Kansas, Wichita State University, Duke University and Washburn University. He also was CEO of a high-tech startup in Kansas.

That varied background illustrates a flexibility and capacity for dealing with change, which would be necessary at NARA. “Change was essential at that time,” Carlin said.

Under his leadership, NARA created a long-term strategic plan. A cornerstone of that plan was to identify the important outside stakeholders in the agency, let them know their concerns were important, and include their views in future considerations.

“We found him ready to listen to our concerns and engage in shared objectives,” said William J. Maher, former president of the Society of American Archivists.

“I found Mr. Carlin to be exceptionally receptive to ar- chival concerns from the SAA. I especially appreciated how he would always not only return our phone calls, but listen and consider our suggestions.”

At the same time, it was the stability of Carlin’s tenure that made that change possible. “I made it clear to people that I wasn’t just passing through,” he said. “Too often, agency employees feel that the changes will last only as long as the person at the top. I wanted people to know that it would be safe for them to commit to a long-term program.”

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