Workshop Catalog

April is National Records Management Month and the State Archives is planning to mark the occasion by holding a forum where state agencies and local governments can ask their most pressing records management questions.

Join us in this webinar to Ask Us Anything…About Records Management.

Come prepared with your questions or just join us to hear what others want to know and learn more about records management.

If you’d like, you can send in your question early to recmgmt@nysed.gov with the subject line “Ask Us Anything” and we’ll answer them during the webinar. 

You’ve completed a records inventory. You’ve disposed of obsolete records. You’re done! Or are you? An important outcome of a records inventory is a records management plan. This webinar will teach you how to analyze all the inventory data you’ve collected and use it to create a records management plan.

Records managers are often their organization’s subject matter expert on the types of records created by the entity, who owns them, and where they’re located.  This makes them an invaluable resource when their employer needs to quickly identify, locate, review, and prepare for release records related to pending litigation.

This webinar - designed for non-attorneys, will focus on the role of records managers in supporting their government employer’s response to litigation-related document requests, from document creation or receipt through disposition.

Moving records from active offices to inactive storage and their regular disposition is essential to maintaining an inactive records storage area or facility. This webinar will discuss some of the basics and provide some helpful solutions to the different challenges inactive records present. It does not matter if you work with records stored in a small vault with a few shelves or a humungous warehouse, there will be some of the same fundamental information you need to maintain a well-run inactive records facility. This webinar will discuss organization and access of inactive records, disposition of records no longer needed and how to create the best environment to ensure you have the best records storage area you can. Anyone who deals with inactive records is bound to learn something new.

• Assess your organization's risk of experiencing an electronic records disaster
• Reduce the chances that a disaster will damage your electronic records
• Salvage various types of electronic media
• Recover data stored on damaged electronic media

Information Governance. What is it? How can it help your organization? This session will introduce the concept of information governance, explain what it includes and how it will strengthen your records management program. And it will outline how to implement an information governance program. 

By State Education Department regulations, each state agency must have a Records Management Officer (RMO) who is responsible for managing its records management program. This session looks at the role and responsibilities of the RMO.

This workshop will:

• Identify the challenges and responsibilities of the RMO
• Review steps for getting started as an RMO
• Discuss the agency partnerships necessary for the implementation of a successful records management program
• Discuss the importance of partnership with the State Archives
• Provide tips for setting records management goals

Many New York State municipalities have courts. The records these courts create pose special challenges for these local governments. Court records are governed by different rules than the rest of local government records, including separate records retention and disposition schedules. Geof Huth, Chief Records Officer for the Office of the New York State Unified Court System, will explain how to use these schedules, how to organize files, how to properly dispose of court records, and other special rules those who manage court records should be aware of.

April is National Records Management Month and the State Archives is marking the occasion by holding a forum where state agencies and local governments can ask their most pressing questions about creating and using records management policies and procedures.

Panelists for this event will consist of New York State Archives staff in Local Government Advisory Services & Scheduling and State Agency Services.

Come prepared with your questions or just join us to hear what others want to know and learn more about this topic.

If you’d like, you can send in your question early to recmgmt@nysed.gov with the subject line “Ask Us Anything” and we’ll answer them during the webinar.

Written policies and procedures establish a permanent foundation for records management programs. They are an essential key to success as a Records Management Officer. This webinar will explore practical ways to develop and implement basic records management policies and procedures, discuss important components, how to use them as a training tool, and evaluate real-world samples.

Presenters: David Lowry, Head, Local Government Advisory Services, NYSA; Jennifer O’Neill, Supervisor, Scheduling and State Agency Services, NYSA. Institutional records are crucial for administrative, legal, and operation requirements. A records management program allows institutions to have systematic control over the creation, use, maintenance, and disposition of their records. This webinar will cover the basics of implementing and managing a records management program at a collecting institution, regardless of size.

The COVID-19 public health emergency has resulted in an unprecedented level of documentation - both of the pandemic’s impact on communities and governments' response to the pandemic. Local governments and state agencies seeking guidance on managing and preserving these records are welcome to join us as we provide some insight on managing records in a remote environment, applying appropriate retention schedule items, and identifying records of enduring historical value.

Today most records are created electronically yet many state agencies and local governments still struggle to manage mounds of paper. This webinar will explore some of the reasons this problem persists, and suggests some practical solutions that will help agencies and governments reduce the amount of paper to be managed and better manage their digital records.

Determine whether your organization’s program meets basic requirements and includes key functions to properly manage records and protect your organization from potential risks.

By State Education Department Regulations, Local Governments must have a designated Records Management Officer (RMO) who is responsible for its Records Management Program. This webinar will explain why this essential position exists and review the role of the RMO. In addition, this webinar will discuss the attributes of a good Records Management (RM) program and provide the tools necessary for building and maintaining a successful program. Finally, we will review the services offered by the State Archives and other organizations that can help provide support for your Records Management program.

Discover all the ways regular, routine disposition of records will benefit your organization!

Find out what you need to focus on to ensure staff understand what records they are creating, what records management is, and their role in it. 

This webinar identifies the key components for developing, renewing, or reviving a successful records management program. Each program may be a little unique due to the size of the government and its resources, but a successful program is not a task to be tackled by the records management officer acting alone.

This session will discuss RMO responsibilities, the benefits of setting up a team of records liaisons and what their roles – as liaisons – can be in terms of achieving your records management goals and making your records program strong and efficient.

Learn the importance of defining a five-year plan for your records management program, how to get your plan started and keep the momentum going once you get it off the ground.

Sometimes it’s important to get back to the basics. If you’re looking for a refresher course or you’re new to records management this webinar is for you. We’ll discuss why records management is so important, the basic principles of records management, and basics of records management activities such as retention, access and preservation.

Ensuring the access and preservation of your inactive records in the correct environment is one of the essential elements of a good records management program. During this webinar, we will discuss some of the basic principles involved in maintaining your inactive records storage area. We will also give you some helpful solutions to the different challenges these records present. Whether you work with records in a vault, a warehouse, or just have a few shelves in a corner, the basic information you need to maintain a well-run inactive records facility is the same.  This webinar will talk about organizing and ensuring access for your inactive records.  As well as, discussing the disposition of records past their retention and creating the best environment to ensure the preservation of these records well past your retirement.  People with all levels of knowledge of records management are encouraged to attend. 

Congratulations, you are an RMO! Welcome to the role of Records Management Officer. This webinar will explain why this essential position exists, what its key responsibilities are, and how you and others in your organization can work together to build and maintain a strong records management program.

The records lifecycle is the basic concept records managers use to build records management programs. This presentation will review the concept and explain each phase of the records lifecycle. It will also provide suggestion on which records management activities should take place in each phase of the lifecycle. 

Many local governments and state agencies begin records management improvements with great gusto and enthusiasm, but over time they begin to lose control of their records and their systems begin to backslide. Often this is caused by a lack of policies and procedures, or a situation where these procedures are not followed. During the workshop, participants will write draft policies and procedures and discuss them as a group. The workshop will also provide participants with a sample policy manual covering all aspects of records management.

This workshop focuses on:

• The value of documenting policies and procedures
• How to develop policies and procedures and make sure they are followed
• How to keep policies up to date and relevant
• Why to develop records management policies and procedures
• How to write records management policies and procedures
• How to develop and promote a records management policy manual

Providing access to records to the public is a frequent occurrence at local governments and state agencies. This workshop will discuss access responsibilities such as making information available while protecting the records at the same time. Information will also be provided on the use of FOIL (Freedom of Information Law), the Patriot Act and FERPA (Family Rights and Privacy Act).

This workshop will

• Define access and its value
• Review physical vs. intellectual access
• Determine when access is allowable
• Discuss how to provide a functional research area
• Identify types of researchers
• Assist in handling challenging researchers
• Offer access options such as reformatting and donating or depositing records

• Explain the legal requirements of a records management program;
• Review federal and state laws that greatly impact records management 
• Review court cases that affect records management; 
• Explain how the legal discovery process works;
• Explain the consequences of not preserving records; and 
• Provide practical steps for going forward.

• The attributes of a good records management program
• Tips for building a records management program and maintaining support over the long term
• How a records inventory can help control records
• How to plan for and carry out a records inventory and analyze the results of the inventory
• How to develop, apply, and update schedules and examine the schedule review and approval process
• A review of the services offered by the State Archives to organizations that want to establish a records management program

This workshop discusses the importance of records management, general records management principles and activities, and tips and strategies to help your organization move forward with implementing the things you learn.