Services for State Agencies
What's New
Records Management Advice and Training
Retention Scheduling and Appraisal
Transferring Records
Inactive Records Storage and the State Records Center
Reference Services
Electronic Records
Preservation of Records
State Laws and Regulations
Other Resources
Change in retention – False Claims Act
On April 1, 2007, Chapter 13 of the State Finance Law, known as the “False Claims Act,” went into effect. Section 192 of this statute permits any legal action to be commenced “no later than ten years after the date on which the violation of this article is committed.” This legal requirement may require that certain records covered by the General Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York State Government Records be retained for longer than their stated legal minimum retention periods, in some cases up to 10 years. For more information, refer to our Retention and Disposition page.
Change in retention - Contractors certified payrolls
The General Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York State Government Records includes item 90375, Contractors Certified Payrolls, in the Facilities Management section. This item, in the current version of the General Schedule (2008), authorizes records destruction three years after contract completion. A revision to law has lengthened the retention period of contractor records to five years after contract completion. To avoid premature destruction of these records, agencies should cease destroying records as authorized by the relevant item and should instead follow the indicated retention period prescribed by law. For more information, refer to our Retention and Disposition page.
Planning for transition
This year a number of transitions are occurring within state government that will have a sizable impact on agency records management. Transitions include staff retirements, a gubernatorial administration change, physical office moves, and agency mergers. The Archives has developed the following materials:
Guidelines for Developing Transfer/Container Lists
Guidelines for the Management of State Agency Executive Office Records
Letter for RMOs to Email to Retirees in Their Respective Agencies
Letter to Agency Heads from State Archivist Concerning Executive Office Records
September 2010 agency RMO newsletter
Records Management Advice and Training
The Archives can advise you in managing your records throughout their lifecyle from creation to destruction or preservation. We offer advisory services on any issue in records management including:
- archival records
- disaster planning and recovery
- electronic records management
- files management
- imaging
- inactive records
- inventorying records
- micrographics
- preservation of records
- policy development
- records management program development (Program Wellness initiative)
- retention scheduling
- security and access
The Archives offers free workshops for agency Records Management Officers and other staff. Please visit the Archives workshops page to see what sessions are being offered this season. The Archives also offers customized, onsite training.
Contact the State Agency Services unit or the Retention Scheduling and Appraisal unit for advice or more information.
Retention Scheduling and Appraisal
The Archives has developed the General Retention and Disposition Schedule for New York State Government Records to address the retention periods of many of the more common records state agencies create. Agencies that have not already adopted the General Schedule and wish to do so may complete and submit this General Schedule Adoption Form.
In addition, the Archives works with individual state agencies to develop schedules for their unique records not found on the general schedule. See State Agency Records Disposition Request Forms for information on developing individualized retention schedules, as well as instructions on how to complete the required scheduling forms. All agency records must be scheduled prior to destruction or transfer to the Archives or State Records Center.
State agencies submitting records disposition schedules to the State Archives that propose to substitute imaged records for original records for retention purposes should complete an Imaging Certification Statement [MS Word version or PDF version].
Contact the Retention Scheduling and Appraisal unit. For more information about scheduling, visit the retention and disposition page.
To transfer your agency's scheduled archival records to the State Archives, please follow the steps outlined in the Instructions for Transferring Archival Records to the New York State Archives. Each transfer must be accompanied by a transfer memo that outlines what records are being transferred and a transfer/container list. To assist you in developing a transfer list, the Archives has prepared a set of guidelines.
Contact the Accessioning unit.
Inactive Records Storage and the State Records Center
For agencies that maintain their inactive records onsite, consult the Archives' publication titled, Developing an Inactive Records Storage Facility (Pub #48).
The State Records Center is an inactive records storage site that offers safe, low-cost storage, retrieval, and destruction services to New York State agencies. For more information about the Records Center, or to download transfer forms, please visit the New York State Records Center page.
For agencies that wish to use commercial offsite storage, the Archives maintains a list of records storage vendors.
Contact the State Records Center.
The Archives provides access to over 100,000 cubic feet of archival records of New York State government (executive, legislative, and judicial branches). We also assist researchers in locating archival records held by government agencies and historical repositories. For more information about how to find records and reference room hours and directions, refer to the Research section of the website.
Contact the Reference Services unit.
There are many challenges with managing and preserving records in electronic format. Agencies should be prepared to maintain access to these records for their entire retention period by the use of standard or open formats, migrating to new versions or systems as needed, periodic refreshing of media, the use of backups, and other appropriate strategies. The Archives has developed materials relating to the following types of electronic records: email, voicemail, geographic information systems, and digital images (Imaging Production Guidelines and Managing Imaging and Micrographics Projects).
For assistance in creating new electronic recordkeeping systems or records and managing active electronic records, contact the State Agency Services unit. For assistance in scheduling electronic records, contact the Retention Scheduling and Appraisal unit. For assistance in transferring electronic records to the Archives or preserving electronic records, contact the Electronic Records unit.
The Archives has staff available to assist you in answering questions relating to preserving records in various formats, storing records in appropriate environmental conditions, and conserving records.
Contact the Collections Management unit.
The Archives is charged with the responsibility of protecting the State's archival records and establishing the requirements for the disposition of State government records, as per the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, Section 57.05. The responsibilities of the Archives, as well as agency records management programs and their records management officers (RMO), are further defined in the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, Part 188.
Archived agency RMO newsletters
Catalog of agency records in the Archives
