This paper examines the means by which the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) preserves historically valuable documents while still making them available to those who initially created them. The paper compares the policies for handling requests for access by donors of material and procedures for accessioned records among the three offices that have physical custody of permanent records: the Office of Presidential Libraries, the Office of the National Archives, and the Office of Federal Records Centers. A number of instances in which loaned records have been lost are cited, including U.S. Army records from the Vietnam War. The paper concludes by proposing revisions of the procedures for records requests. Sample forms are attached, including a routing and transmittal slip, a loan slip, a reference request form, routing slips, and return request slips. (MAB)