With most information now created in electronic rather than physical form, issues such as record definition and content, version control, public access, and ongoing preservation affect the ability of government to function efficiently and maintain history and accountability. Government officials need to provide for long-term preservation and use of records in a technology environment that values and encourages rapid change and innovation. There are issues related to management and preservation of both single- and multi-media records. Questions about principles and methods of access by internal and external users, for both primary and secondary purposes, present a host of policy, management, and technology problems.

• What is a public record?
• What technical infrastructure is needed to maintain a digital archive?
• How can deteriorating traditional records be cost- effectively transferred to long-lived media?
• For records worth long term preservation, when would a summary suffice and what would it contain?
• What tools will support intelligent scheduling, appraisal, and retention of digital records?
• How can we compare the cost of archiving to the value of the archived record?