Subduing the Paper Chase ?

Federal Computer Week reports on the National Archives\’ antiquated and ineffectual National Personnel Records Center:

Requests for veterans’ records pour in to the National Personnel Records Center at a rate of 6,000 a day. But the records center, a massive warehouse in St. Louis, is ill-equipped to handle the demand. In an age when agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration can share electronic records almost instantly, the National Personnel Records Center still operates much as it did when it opened in 1955. . . On average, it takes workers at the records center 54 days to respond to written requests for records. But sometimes it takes years.