The National Archives and Records Administration has outgrown its digitized record keeping system and needs major changes to keep up with the high volume of data it must store and manage. NARA this week published a formal request to vendors for information, saying it wanted ideas of software possibilities to replace its Archival Research Catalog.

The National Archives said in a statement that "there's already a backlog of several million descriptions that will be associated with 11 million digital copies and 30 million more digital copies expected to be delivered this year." It added it has outgrown the existing system and will need "a more robust solution that's capable of scaling to support at least 250 million archival descriptions and links to upward of 500 digital copies over the next four to seven years."

It's a cautionary tale for every federal agency that must keep taps on the volumes of digitized material and make sure that their system is big enough to handle growing numbers. 

For more on the National Archives:
- check out this FederalComputerWeek article [1]