Public operating summary
The 2023 summary centers on preservation. The archive standard was rewritten, access-copy handling was separated from preservation-copy handling, and the Laboratories began treating digitization status as an operating risk rather than a library backlog.
Operating facts
- Continuous recording
- 99.99% station uptime
- Active Field Array hosts
- 28,410 average monthly
- Public catalog accessions
- 9 public records
- Archive digitization
- 512 media items stabilized or indexed
- Operating reserve
- 28 months at current burn
- Publication policy
- No funder review before release
Renner Endowment
46%
Calder Ridge Trust
18%
Private research grants
14%
Principal supporters
10%
Field Array in-kind compute
12%
Research record
- Issued the archive preservation standard now used by the reading room.
- Separated public abstracts from preservation-copy review workflows.
- Completed second-pass digitization on the recovered 1966 tape set.
- Expanded Field Array archival jobs to include condition-aware retry rules.
Stewardship
Preservation funding was moved into the core operating budget instead of campaign funding.
Records staff received standing authority to pause public replay when media condition is uncertain.
All new report records were required to include a docket and access state.
Archive and records
- A preservation-copy handling log was created for each magnetic media item replayed during the year.
- Chart records with severe fading were prioritized ahead of newer born-digital holdings.
- Reading-room appointment notes were standardized for repeat researcher requests.
Open operating risks
- Preservation work still depends on specialist equipment with no direct modern replacement.
- The oldest access copies cannot always be produced without risking the preservation copy.
- Public curiosity about unresolved records continues to exceed records-office capacity.