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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Institutional History Division Appendixes
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The year 2000 brought a new Secretary and a new emphasis to the Smithsonian Institution. Lawrence M. Small, installed in January as the 11th Secretary, urges the staff to measure their programs against four criteria: public impact; first-class research; management excellence; and financial strength. During 2000, Smithsonian Institution Archives has kept these measurements in mind. The strong skills and high personal standards of SIA staff assure the Institution of quality service in managing an irreplaceable documentary record, conveying Smithsonian history, and monitoring collections management policy. Our own pursuit of excellence in 2000 focused particularly on internal collection management. We designed a new database system that incorporated the data from several stand-alone programs into a single relational collection management system. We prepared 260 agency histories, linking them to 788 series descriptions, as part of a necessary conversion to a more robust system for controlling holdings. We took major steps in the preservation of audio-visual, paper, and nitrate collections. We participated in the migration of our records in the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) from Notis to the new Horizon platform. We increased staff training in the emerging area of electronic records management. And Institution-wide, we moved forward the revision of SD 600 - Smithsonian Collections Management Policy. At the same time we maintained our outreach efforts. Through speaking engagements, consultations, reference services, retention schedules, publications, and website enhancements we offered a broad range of constituents our expertise in professional areas, Institutional policy, and Smithsonian history. Additionally, SIA assumed responsibility for two new publications, the Annals (a yearly compilation of programmatic activity throughout the Institution) and Highlights of Smithsonian Collections, an overview of the collections held by all Smithsonian museums, libraries, and archives. Does this record of accomplishment meet the Secretary's measurements for excellence? I would answer with an emphatic "yes," but also with the recognition that we must improve SIA's financial strength. Secretary Small urges intensive fund-raising efforts as an antidote to SI budgetary restraint and this mandate we must accept. In launching new efforts, however, we wish to acknowledge those donors whose support has sustained SIA initiatives in 2000. I thank the National Film Preservation Foundation, the Smithsonian Women's Committee, and an anonymous donor to the Joseph Henry Papers Project for their generosity and their confidence in Smithsonian Institution Archives. Edie Hedlin  Smithsonian Institution Archives || Archives Division Institutional History Division || Joseph Henry Papers Project National Collection Program |