Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 41524 [2021-16444]

Agencies

• National Archives and Records Administration

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 145 (Monday, August 2, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 41524]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-16444]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

[NARA-2021-039]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We have submitted a request to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for approval to continue to collect information used by 
registrants or other authorized individuals to request information from 
or copies of Selective Service System (SSS) records. We invite you to 
comment on this proposed information collection.

DATES: OMB must receive written comments on or before September 1, 
2021.

ADDRESSES: Send any comments and recommendations on the proposed 
information collection in writing to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
You can find this particular information collection by selecting 
``Currently under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using 
the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamee Fechhelm, Paperwork Reduction 
Act Officer, by email at [email protected] or by telephone at 
301.837.1694 with any requests for additional information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (Pub. L. 104-13), we invite the general public and other Federal 
agencies to comment on proposed information collections. We published a 
notice of proposed collection for this information collection on May 
10, 2021 (86 FR 24900) and we received one comment. The commenter 
stated, ``I am a professional genealogist and I frequently research 
elusive individuals who lived in the 20th century. These selective 
service records are immensely useful, because they cover nearly all 
males, but they are very inaccessible because they can only be found if 
the individual's exact address is known. The form necessarily requires 
address, because that is how the records are organized. However, this 
impacts my ability to do my job because it renders the vital documents 
unusable if the registrant moved around and I cannot pinpoint exactly 
where he lived. I hope that NARA prioritizes either the indexing or 
digitization of these documents, so that they can be better utilized by 
the research community, thus not requiring the address to be known.''
    We have considered this comment and provided a response to the 
commenter. Due to the size of the collection, we have no immediate 
plans to index the Records of the Selective Service System. However, a 
great number of the Draft Registration cards, including those from WWI 
(1917-1918) and WWII, have been digitized and are available online at 
ancestry.com, fold3.com, and familysearch.org (the latter two offer 
free memberships), which provide their own means of searching and 
tagging to aid people in finding the records. Once normal operations 
resume, records on ancestry.com can be viewed for free in National 
Archives Public Research Rooms with Public Access PCs. Prior to the 
pandemic, we discussed possibly digitizing the post-WWII Draft 
Registration cards, and hope to continue such discussions post-
pandemic, once we resume normal operations. We appreciate the comment 
and will continue efforts to make records more accessible.
    This comment does not change the purpose of the information 
collection or change the information we collect from researchers who 
are requesting access to archival records. We have therefore submitted 
the described information collection to OMB for approval. We will 
continue requesting as much record-identifying information from 
researchers as possible, pursuant to this information collection, to 
aid us in finding the documents researchers seek, including the SSS 
records this researcher mentions.
    If you have comments or suggestions, they should address one or 
more of the following points: (a) Whether the proposed information 
collection is necessary for NARA to properly perform its functions; (b) 
our estimate of the burden of the proposed information collection and 
its accuracy; (c) ways we could enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information we collect; (d) ways we could minimize the 
burden on respondents of collecting the information, including through 
information technology; and (e) whether this collection affects small 
businesses.
    In this notice, we solicit comments concerning the following 
information collection:
    Title: Selective Service System Record Request.
    OMB number: 3095-0071.
    Agency form numbers: NA Form 13172.
    Type of review: Regular.
    Affected public: Individuals or households.
    Estimated number of respondents: 1,500.
    Estimated time per response: 2 minutes.
    Frequency of response: On occasion.
    Estimated total annual burden hours: 50.
    Abstract: The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) of the 
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) administers the 
Selective Service System (SSS) records. The SSS records contain both 
classification records and registration cards of registrants born 
before January 1, 1960. When registrants or other authorized 
individuals request information from or copies of SSS records they must 
provide on forms or letters certain information about the registrant 
and the nature of the request. Requesters use NA Form 13172, Selective 
Service Record Request to obtain information from SSS records stored at 
NARA facilities.

Swarnali Haldar,
Executive for Information Services/CIO.
[FR Doc. 2021-16444 Filed 7-30-21; 8:45 am]
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