NARA approves two methods for transferring records

Agencies transferring permanent records to the National Archives and Records Administration now can use digital tape or File Transfer Protocol, the agency said in a final rule published in the Federal Register.The final rule takes effect Jan. 29. NARA published a proposed rule June 26 and received seven comments, including six from agency employees.NARA conducted a pilot for alternatives to media transfer methods and found FTP and digital tape to be reliable and secure, the final rule said.The rule does not restrict the format of electronic records, but NARA said it is looking at formats other than ASCII and EBCDIC as part of its E-Records Management E-Government initiative.