Dear Karira:
This is very useful. It never registered with me that there is also some positive obligation on a large PA to computerize and put things in a form where it is easy to service
RTI requests. My contact did say that they had plans to migrate to a more helpful computer setup, and had even begun in a small bits and pieces, but his tone suggested that he wasn't sure how long the full process would take.
I suppose if some official inside the PA wants to be more helpful he could use the
RTI section you quoted to try and persuade the amorphous powers-that-be within his PA to dedicate some more resources to the task. At least I will certainly bring to his attention the
RTI section you've quoted at an opportune moment. Thanks again. Best,
Murgie