Nourishing Local Government Archives and Records Centers

Geof HuthSAA / NAGARA / CoSA Joint Meeting

Washington, DC13 August 2010

New York State’sLocal Government Records Management

Improvement Fund

History of the LGRMIFLocal Government Records Law passed in 1987

LGRMIF created by Law in 1989

Hired field staff and awarded grants beginning in 1990

In 2004, funding made permanent

Original focus: paper and microfilm

In 2000s, e-records became focus

LGRMIF ServicesAdvisory Services

Field and Albany-based servicesOnsite, email, and telephone consultationsSome help developing guidance materials

TrainingAbout 125 workshops a year on 30 topicsFull-day symposia on e-records and archivesSpecialized training for individual local governmentsWeb-based training

ResourcesRetention schedulesPublicationsWeb resources

Grants

Our UniverseGoal: Develop good RM programs in local governmentNine regional offices of the State Archives About 30 staff working with local governmentsOver 4500 local governmentsOver 1000 field visits a yearAbout 2000 attendees at our training sessionsAbout 4 disaster responses per year200 to 600 grants per year for $5M to $12MHigh levels of customer satisfactionConstant rethinking of our services

Challenges of Promoting ArchivesImportance of records is poorly understood

Local governments focus on their work, not records

Most success with those with central records function

Grant awards are happily accepted

More difficult to convince governments to use own money

Lack of understanding of the long-term benefits

As opposed to the upfront costs

Desire to control own records limits solutions

Ways towards SuccessDeveloping relationships

Developing a statewide culture of recordsThrough local government associations

Archives Week events

Examples of success spur on other local governments

Promoting the value of internal use of records

Promoting cooperative solutions

Focusing efforts where most likely to succeedLarger governments

Those with better support

Those with a history of interest in records

Passion (ours and theirs)

Examples of SuccessDozens of full-scale archival programs

Primarily in larger local governmentsAlso small one like the Town of Long Lake

Huge improvements in records storage everywhereShelving, climate control, security

Millions of high-quality microfilm images producedAnd stored appropriately

Millions of high-quality digital images producedMany solid content management implementationsDeposit and donation used to increase access

Challenges Now and in the FutureDiminishing number of staff

First generation of staff beginning to retire

Inability to hire

Diminishing number of grant dollarsLeading to less interest in applying for grants

Increasing costs associated with grant projectsBecause of the technology focus

Because of the natural process of inflation

Some signs of backslidingAs governments deal with the national fiscal crisis

Ideas for the FutureProgram Assessment

One year to rethink our programInstitute shared services grantsEliminate some records activities from the grants program

Plus:System for collecting longitudinal data on governments

To better measure their progress in RM and archivesTo assess the value of our servicesTo determine how to improve our services

Enhanced field servicesDevelopment of policies and proceduresDevelopment of needs assessments for e-systems

Longitudinal Data SystemSignificantly detailed survey

About 70 questions, plus subquestionsCovers seven broad categories:

Program Infrastructure, Retention and Disposition, Records Storage, Access and Retrieval, Historical Records, Information Technology, Disaster Planning

Completed by the local governmentAnswers confirmed by field staff

ScoringDetailed rubric allows for objective scoring3-point scoring system with decimal averaging by category

Completing testing nowImplementation next

Success Story: Ulster CountyFull-scale archives and records mgmt program

Services focused internally to departments Services focused externally to the publicStaff have clearly defined roles

Program serves a defined local audience Creates digital access to those records most in demandQuality services establish trust and visibility

Regular reporting show services and cost savingsDemonstrates value & creates sense of indispensability

Support of county clerks over the yearsRelies on a network of services from the State Archives

Geof HuthDirector

Government Records ServicesNew York State Archivesghuth@mail.nysed.gov

518.402.5371