Webinars

Presenter: Clare Flemming, Consulting Archivist. Accessioning is a crucial step in acquiring materials at any collecting institution, as the process by which legal and physical ownership is transferred to the organization. This webinar will address the importance of accessioning, as well as essential components of an accessioning policy, accessioning workflows, and how to handle “found in collection” items.

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.

The State Archives provides grants to local governments through its competitive grant program, the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF). This webinar is an introduction to the Shared Services type of grant. Shared Services projects involve two or more local governments working together with one government acting as the lead. This is Part 2 of a six part series on the LGRMIF program.

This webinar focuses on:

• Defining Shared Services projects
• Explaining their advantages 
• Providing examples of projects
• Showing how to write a strong application

• Historical records identification
• Appraisal
• Disposition

October is National Archives 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 electronic records storage. Our focus for this session will best practices in selecting and managing electronic records storage.

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 (link sends e-mail) with the subject line “Ask Us Anything” and we’ll answer them during the webinar.

Want to know more about how to design an effective storage space? Document records locations as they move between the office and storage? Choose shelving, boxes, labels, or other storage materials? Join State Archives staff specializing in Local Government Advisory Services and Scheduling & State Agency Services for a special session marking National Records Management Month where attendees share their questions about storing their inactive records. Your questions determine the content!

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 about Inactive Storage” and we’ll answer them during the webinar.

October is National Archives 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 appraising their records for historical value.

Our focus for this session are the following areas:

• Why is appraisal important
• How to appraise records

Panelists for this event will consist of New York State Archives staff in Local Government Advisory Services & Scheduling and State Agency Services. It is recommended that attendees watch the State Archives records appraisal training sessions listed below prior to attending the training.

•  Records Retention Module #7: Appraisal - Local Context
•  Records Retention Module #8: Appraisal - Local Scenarios
•  Records Retention Module #9: Appraisal - State Agencies

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 (link sends e-mail) with the subject line “Ask Us Anything” and we’ll answer them during the webinar.

• Why records inventories are important
• How to conduct records inventories
• What governments should do with the results of their inventories

The State Archives is holding a forum where state agencies and local governments can ask their most pressing records management questions.

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.

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.

This session will go through and discuss the changes made to the Local Government Retention Schedule (LGS-1) as part of the Spring 2022 update and offer attendees the opportunity to ask any questions they have about records retention.

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

Presenter: David Neary, Project Manager, Media Preservation Initiative, Whitney Museum of American Art. Audiovisual materials are abundant in collections - from moving images on film or video, to audiocassettes, CDs and DATs. Despite their constant presence on the shelf, the data they hold is at risk from the threats of degradation and obsolescence. Transferring to more durable formats will help ensure their preservation, but where do you start? Reformatting projects can be overwhelming, and this webinar is intended to help you get started. Topics addressed will include what you need to know before planning a reformatting project, reformatting in-house, and knowing when to seek out a vendor.

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.

Presenters: Gillian Marcus, Preservation Specialist, DHPSNY; Jennifer Palmentiero, Digital Services Librarian, Southeastern New York Library Resource Council. Many collecting institutions have newspaper in their collections, from clippings to entire runs of publications. There are myriad issues with newspaper collections that can impede access to important information. This webinar will focus on the common problems with newspaper collections and what steps institutions can take to prevent deterioration. Presenters will also discuss the importance of digitization, microfilming and current programs that support this work for newspaper collections.

Presenter: Susan Weinrich, Vice President of Organizational and Community Development, New York Council of Nonprofits. Boards can use committees to get their work done effectively and efficiently- or they can become frustrated by the lack of leadership, engagement, and clearly defined purpose. This session will explore best practices and creative strategies for using committees to increase engagement, focus, and productively.

Presenter: Andrew Marietta, Vice President of Regional Development, New York Council of Nonprofits. This session will provide an overview of how board members can foster a pro-active approach to financial resource development including policy making, planning, fundraising, and strategy development. We will also define and explore the various active roles board members can play as donors, ambassadors, advocates, and askers.

Membership programs can offer plenty of benefits to organizations, however, it can be more difficult to build a thriving membership program than many nonprofits expect. This presentation will cover steps organizations can take to revitalize their membership programs, including understanding the value of a membership program; surveying the membership on their engagement; reviewing and reenergizing membership benefits; and rethinking the membership relationship from a transaction for benefits to an investment and partnership.

Susan Weinrich, Vice President of Organizational and Community Development, New York Council of Nonprofits. Board leadership and engagement isn’t happened upon through luck, nor is it something to be taken for granted. Board building should be an ongoing process with year-round activities and clear strategic goals. In this session we will explore board recruitment, engagement, and assessment, strategies, and identify and recognize what motivates board members to excel in their roles.

Presenter: Amelia Parks, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY. Having essential policies and procedures in place is crucial for a properly functioning and thriving collection. This webinar focuses on one of these, the Collection Management Policy (CMP).

Presenter: Anastasia Matijkiw, Program Coordinator, DHPSNY. This webinar provides an introduction to collections care basics through the ten agents of deterioration: physical force; theft and vandalism; fire; water; pests; pollutants; light; incorrect temperature; incorrect relative humidity; and custodial neglect.

Presenter: Amber Hares, Book Conservator, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. The second presentation in our Common Collection Conditions series, this webinar discusses how to identify common condition problems found in book collections and introduce five priority levels that can be utilized to categorize collection items based on the urgency of conservation needs.

Presenter: Benjamin Iluzada, Housing Technician, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. The third presentation in our Common Collection Conditions series, this webinar will discuss common housing issues found within an institution's collection, as well as recommendations for how to address them both in-house and externally.

Presenter: Heather Hendry, Senior Paper Conservator, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. Every collection will have some condition issues, and every organization has limits on the level of collections care they can institute. However, by both understanding the overall condition of a collection and identifying urgent items, organizations can determine how to best allocate resources within an overall preservation plan. This webinar will discuss how to identify common condition problems found in paper objects and introduce five priority levels that can be utilized to categorize collection items based on the urgency of conservation needs.

Presenter: Barbara Lemmen, Senior Photograph Conservator, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. The fourth presentation in our Common Collection Conditions series, this webinar will discuss how to identify common condition problems found in photograph collections and introduce five priority levels that can be utilized to categorize collection items based on the urgency of conservation needs.

Presenter: Kate Philipson, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY. Inventorying collections is one of the most crucial parts of any collections management program. A thorough inventory underpins good intellectual control, emergency preparedness and response, security, and helps to determine preservation priorities. This webinar will discuss the process and principles for carrying out a basic inventory of your archival, library, or museum collections.

To have an efficient and functional records management program it is critical for governments to maintain an up-to-date inventory of their records. This webinar introduces participants to the planning, implementation, and analysis of a records inventory for paper records.

The program will discuss:

• How a records inventory can help you control records
• How to plan for and carry out a records inventory
•  Identifying records to inventory
• Collecting meaningful inventory data
• Analyzing the results of the inventory
• How to identify retention periods for records

This webinar will present strategies for filing records that you can apply to paper or electronic records. It will focus on how to develop a filing system that will keep your records organized, accessible and easy to identify for disposition.

As collection caretakers, we often have to balance the primary goals of care and access. Setting safe boundaries for physical access to collections can be accomplished by providing consistent handling procedures for anyone using collection materials. In this webinar, DHPSNY Preservation Specialist Amanda Murray will discuss writing handling guidelines, training both staff and researchers on how to properly handle materials, determining specific guidelines for particularly fragile materials, and housing considerations for heavily used materials.

Presenter: Barbara Lemmen, Senior Photograph Conservator, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. This webinar covers the types of materials that benefit most from or are unsuited to cold storage conditions, concentrating on photographic materials. The differences between cold and frozen systems, such as equipment types and preparation and access to a collection, are also explored.

Local governments and state agencies use email to communicate with staff, circulate internal documents, authorize actions, approve payments, interpret terms of contracts, correspond with the public, and in many other ways to support business. Email used for business will contain records that governments should identify, retain, and dispose like records in other formats.

This webinar will provide an overview of key areas for developing email policy, including access, discovery, retention, disposition, storage, preservation, security, and appropriate use. The discussion will include strategies for policy creation that focus on end user cooperation, system automation, retention, and disposition.

This session is intended to help State Agencies and Local Governments develop office schedules that they can use to simplify records retention.  You will learn:

• What office schedules are
• Why they're effective
• How to start creating one to meet your organization's needs

Presenter: Bonita Weddle, Coordinator of Electronic Records, New York State Archives This webinar focuses on simple, practical first steps small repositories can take toward digital preservation and points you to a wide array of helpful resources.

Are you prepared for disaster? Do you have a plan ready to avoid or recover from a records disaster quickly, safely, and effectively? This webinar will present actual disaster and recovery examples to illustrate how to respond to a disaster to your records. It will also discuss planning to mitigate damage that could occur to your organization's records management operations.

Presenter: Susan Weinrich, Vice President of Organizational and Community Development, New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc. This session provides a broad overview of the fiduciary, ethical, and policy making responsibilities of the board. It covers the key functions of the board and provides practical guidance and an overview of best practices for board members to individually and collectively achieve excellence in governance performance. Participants will gain an understanding of how to develop and maintain an engaged board focused on ensuring mission alignment, planning for the organization’s future, ensuring adequate resources and strong financial oversight, and for those organizations with employees, building a strong working partnership with staff leadership.‌

• RMO and IT decision making
• Cloud Computing
• email management
• social media and local government
• preserving electronic records
• eRecords and the law
• inventorying automated systems
• policies and procedures

• 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

State agencies and local governments use email daily to communicate, administer, and transact public business. The result is often copious amounts of emails. Most emails are transitory messages that governments can delete after they no longer need them. However, others may be records governments must retain to fulfill retention requirements.

The key to managing email is understanding how it is used in your organization and creating policies for use and management.

This webinar is a primer to help you

• Identify emails that are records (and those that are not),
• Determine retention periods for email records,
• Consider strategies for email retention,
• File, maintain, and preserve e-mail, and
• Develop policies for email use and management.

Approximately 95% of New York’s government records, spread throughout its local governments and State agencies, are scheduled for eventual destruction.  What about the other 5% whose business, research, or historical value require that they remain accessible forever?  And, more specifically, what about the emails that fall within this category?

 During this webinar, we will discuss emails as permanent records, the challenges of maintaining access to them, and differing roles of local governments and State agencies in the preservation process.  We’ll also talk about how the State Archives manages the emails in its collections to ensure that they will remain available for future researchers and business users. 

Presenter: Amelia Parks, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY
One of the most important steps any cultural institution can take to safeguard its collections is to be prepared in the event of an emergency or disaster. How do you get started on this process? This webinar will focus on the first steps an institution should take, including drafting a Pocket Response Plan (PReP), determining salvage priorities, and establishing a cache of disaster supplies.

Consistency is the key to an effective records management program.  Staff need clear guidance regarding

• what records to keep and for how long,
• how to name and organize their files,
• where to store records, and
• who is responsible for each records management task.

Policies and procedures establish and provide access to rules and processes specific to your records management program.  This webinar will explain how to create records management policies and procedures and provide suggestions on how to implement them.

Presenter: Amelia Parks, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY. This workshop covers the basics of collection-level finding aids and focus on content and formatting as governed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), the descriptive standard for archival materials.

Join DHPSNY Archives Specialist Kate Philipson as she explores practical steps to help you create finding aids on a basic level. In this webinar, Kate will discuss how to prioritize the required elements of a finding aid so that archival description feels attainable, while building upon the 2017 DHPSNY webinar about finding aids. She will also share further details about Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) by discussing the DACS update process, and examining how the DACS Principles help to frame description work. We will look at some examples of finding aids and take questions, but we will also invite you to a future conversation on September 22, 2021 where we can more directly address your active description challenges and questions about producing finding aids for your organization.

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.

Without some system to manage inactive records, you are not dealing with a core issue of records management. When we speak of an inactive records system, we are envisioning a life cycle—an annual process of transferring less active records from office filing equipment to an inactive records storage site, disposing of obsolete records, and providing appropriate storage conditions so that records can be preserved. In addition to this cycle, one must be able to find inactive records in a timely and efficient manner. This webinar will introduce the basic principles of managing inactive records.

This webinar focuses on

• Developing an inactive records storage site
• Environmental and security control of storage areas
• Supplies and equipment needed to manage inactive records
• Transferring records to inactive storage and disposition of obsolete records
• Preservation of permanent and historical records
• Improving access to inactive records 

Photographic materials in all their variety are among the most difficult records to manage and make accessible. With the dawn of new digital technologies, you are now able to share your historical photographs with a wider audience and save wear and tear on the originals. Digitizing your photographic collections opens the door to creative and interesting applications never before dreamed possible. Consider the blossoming world of blogging, websites, e-publications, social media, and so forth as natural venues to share your visual historic treasures. But there are many issues to consider as one prepares for such an endeavor. This webinar will introduce the basic principles of scanning historical photographs.

This webinar focuses on

• What photographic materials you can scan and how
• Selecting a scanner and software to use and how to get the best possible image from them
• How to plan for and carry out a successful photographic imaging project step by step
• State Archives technical standards for file format, image resolution, bit depth, and compression
• Creation of metadata and descriptive information for images
• Options to increase access to your digital images

Presenter: Lee Price, Director of Development, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. Viewers of this webinar will learn how to effectively develop and implement a funding strategy to raise money for collections, including the planning process that funders want to see in place and the elements of a successful grant proposal.

Presenter: Lee Price, Director of Development, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. In DHPSNY’s second webinar in our funding series, learn more about crafting a successful narrative for your grant applications. With examples drawn from success stories at museums, historic sites, libraries, and archives, this webinar will explore the delicate balancing act of meeting all guideline requirements while telling a compelling story.

Presenters: John Diefenderfer, Archival Advisory Services, New York State Archives; Barbara Lilley, Library Development Specialist, New York State Library. This informational webinar presents two funding sources available to collecting institutions in New York through state funding: The New York State Discretionary Grant Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials (C/P Grants) and the Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) Grants. Presenters discuss eligibility, fundable activities, and the application process for their respective programs.

Are you thinking about submitting a Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) grant application in the 2025-2026 grant cycle?

Do you have questions, like:

• What is LGRMIF and who is eligible?
• What can the money be used for?
• How do I get started?
• What kind of information do I need to include in the application?
• What resources are available to help me?

Then join us on this webinar where State Archives’ staff will address these questions and others you may have about getting ready for LGRMIF 2025-2026.

Presenter: Amelia Parks, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY. Having a regular housekeeping program is essential to the preservation of collections. Clean conditions are important for long-term collections care and for good emergency preparedness. This webinar will address how to develop and maintain a housekeeping program for small- and medium-sized institutions, including policies, schedules, and recommended cleaning products.

Presenter: Gillian Marcus, Preservation Specialist, DHPSNY. This webinar guides you through the process of becoming an informed consumer in an often confusing world of products marketed as “archival” or “conservation-grade.”

“Process and purge" - magical words for those who love records management! But what about the rest of us? Faced with mountains of boxed records, how does one process these for efficient storage and access? And how does one appropriately separate obsolete records that may be purged from those that must still be retained? This webinar will walk you through this journey from start to finish sharing 25 years of processing and purging tips and tricks along the way. We will touch on transferring records to inactive storage, identifying and organizing records, applying retention schedules, destroying records, and so much more. Leave your fears behind as you learn to dive into records like the deep end of a swimming pool!

The State Archives provides grants to local governments through its competitive grant program, the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF). The eGrants system is the State Archives online application portal for the LGRMIF. It is separate from the New York State Grants Gateway. The eGrants system is designed to manage your grant from application to final reports. This webinar covers the application process only, including getting a user account, navigating the application sections, and forms that are particular to submitting an application. Separate webinars are available for managing a grant in eGrants. This is Part 3 of a six part series on the LGRMIF program.

This webinar focuses on:

• Steps to getting and setting up a user account
• Explaining the Narrative sections and tips on how to complete them 
• Navigating eGrants: The Checklist and Forms Menus
• Breakdown of the electronic forms
• Application printouts and attachments
• Providing guidance on submitting electronic and paper forms

Presenter: Dyani Feige, Director of Preservation Services, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. Advocacy is not only external—it is crucial for collecting institution staff to be able to advocate internally as well, to co-workers, board, and administration, in order to assure that resources are best allocated. This webinar will explore routes for both external and internal advocacy with a focus on collections care: securing time and funding for preservation initiatives and conservation treatment. It will also discuss opportunities for incorporating information about preservation into all advocacy efforts.

Presenter: Tamara Talansky, Preservation and Imaging Coordinator, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
This webinar provides a basic overview of some of the considerations institutions should make when digitizing materials, including prioritization and selection criteria, handling practices while scanning or photographing, and storage concerns for digital media.

• Manage electronic record keeping systems of varied sizes and types
• File and maintain access to electronic records
• Control the retention and disposition of electronic records
• Develop security and other management controls over electronic records
• Preserve electronic records over long periods of time

Presenter: Samantha Forsko, Preservation Specialist, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts Emergency preparedness is one of the most important steps any cultural institution can take to safeguard its collections. This webinar provides a “big picture” overview of emergency planning and preparedness.

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. 

Presenter: Gillian Marcus, Preservation Specialist, DHPSNY. This webinar provides an introduction to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for cultural institutions. Topics include the basic principles of prevention, monitoring, identification, and response/recovery, as well as resources for setting up a pest management program.

This webinar is an introduction to the management of audiovisual records. We will discuss what makes these records unique, learn about some of the records management challenges they pose and what can be done about them. We will take a look at the different kinds of audiovisual records you will likely encounter, their storage and retrieval, when and how to reformat and migrate them, as well as other related issues.

Managing electronic records is one of our most timely challenges. It’s increasingly important for records managers to know their electronic records and develop plans to manage them. An effective way to begin this process is to conduct an electronic records inventory. This webinar will discuss how to identify key e-records systems, collect meaningful data, analyze the results, and develop an e-records management plan.

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 applying appropriate retention schedule items, and identifying records of enduring historical value.

Presenter: Dyani Feige, Director of Preservation Services, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. This presentation covers key collections management topics such as acquisition, appraisal, documentation and deeds of gift, inventory, and deaccessioning. Issues such as “found in the collection” items and abandoned property are also addressed.

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.

Presenter: Anne Karle-Zenith, Associate Director of Business Development, Metropolitan New York Library Council; Jennifer Palmentiero, Digital Services Librarian, Southeastern New York Library Resource Council. This webinar provides an introduction to copyright law for archival and special collection managers. Fair use and special exemptions for libraries and archives are also covered. The presentation concludes with a discussion of copyright considerations related to deeds of gifts, donor agreements, reuse of collection materials, and permission and fee policies.

Presenters: Clare Flemming, Consulting Archivist; Brandon Zimmerman, Consulting Archivist. Collecting institutions are regularly faced with ethical decisions, from questions of access and privacy to authenticity and copyright in collections. This webinar will discuss some of the more common ethical issues and the professional codes of ethics governing archives and libraries.

Presenter: Erin Richardson, Director of Collections, Farmers’ Museum. Designed for any staff or volunteers involved in collections care, this webinar is a primer on how institutions should address their trickier holdings: old loans, abandoned property, and materials “found in the collection.”

The State Archives provides grants to local governments through its competitive grant program, the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF). Applying for an LGRMIF grant requires the submission of various forms, some of which are hard-copy and some of which are online-only. This webinar identifies those forms and how they should be submitted. This presentation is Part 5 of a six-part series of informational webinars on this grant program.

This webinar:

• Offers a brief overview of the LGRMIF grant program.
• Walks through the various forms needed to apply for an LGRMIF grant.
• Closes with general tips for the application process.

• how to prepare for grant writing season
• important dates and requirements you need to know
• the resources and contacts you’ll need to prepare a strong application.

Presenter: Heather Hendry, Senior Paper Conservator, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. Light is one of the ten agents of deterioration, making it especially crucial that collecting institutions know how to control and mitigate exposure to light during storage and exhibition. This webinar discusses basic principles of managing light exposure in collections, including identifying light sources commonly found in institutional storage, measuring and understanding visible and UV light values, current standards for light exposure during exhibition, and preventive measures to avoid unnecessary exposure to light. The light sensitivity of materials commonly held in archives, museums, and libraries is also discussed. Several case studies will show how small and large real world institutions have protected their collections.

The State Archives provides grants to local governments through its competitive grant program, the LGRMIF. The LGRMIF provides grants to local governments to assist them in either establishing a records management program or enhancing an existing one. This webinar provides a basic introduction to the LGRMIF program and is Part 1 of a six part series of informational webinars on this grant program.

This webinar focuses on:

• The purpose of the LGRMIF
• Discussion of the eligibility requirements local governments must meet
• An exploration of the different types of grants local governments can apply for
• An overview of the 5 grant project categories and the requirements for each category
• Suggested next steps as you develop your proposed project and application

Local history provides such color and depth to an otherwise bland panorama of dates, events and places. It offers unique information and creates a context for regional, state and national history. But what is the documentary basis for excellent local history and what is the local historian’s role in identifying and promoting historical records in a community context? This webinar will explore these questions as they relate to the primary roles of local historians – interpreting the past through research and writing, teaching, organizing, advocacy and historic preservation. We will consider the nature and challenges associated with local records, where they may be located, and options to preserve and make accessible these local treasures. This presentation will be valuable to records management officers, historians, and all those charged with overseeing the rich history of their communities.

Managing the annual flow of records from active offices to inactive storage and their regular disposition is the foundational principle of records management. This is the pivotal key to maintaining an inactive records storage area or facility. In the end, having this process down will determine the quality and efficiency of your entire records program. If managed well, this one thing will make you look like a records superstar, otherwise – not so much.

This one-hour webinar will review amazing tips and tricks that will help you manage the annual flow of records like a champ. We will discuss all of the tasks required to maintain a well-run inactive records facility, from small vault areas up to gigantic warehouse-sized programs. It will touch on maintaining organization and access, disposition of obsolete records, and a few ideas on archiving historical records.

This webinar will definitely be appreciated by all individuals who manage inactive records.

Microfilm was once the top records technology for reformatting records. It had, and still does, have many great advantages. The State Archives recently did a study on the current state of the microfilm industry to prepare relevant advice for organizations storing records on this medium.

This webinar will:

• review the results of that study,
• discuss considerations for managing records on microfilm, and
• advise on its use, care, and maintenance.

• Identify pitfalls and benefits associated with case file management
• Consider methods to improve access
• Show how case file retention schedules can simplify disposition
• Examine modern storage equipment and filing strategies
• Evaluate benefits of digital imaging and electronic case file management

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.

Presenter: Maggie Downing, Manager of Digital Imaging, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. This webinar will focus on the basics of managing digital collections and will address born-digital material as well as items that have been converted to digital format. Maggie Downing, Manager of Digital Imaging at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, will discuss scalable strategies that can be implemented by institutions of all sizes.

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.

Presenter: Dacia Metes, Digital Archives Manager, Queens Public Library. What is metadata? And why does it matter? This webinar will answer these questions and more! Intended to help those just getting started with metadata, topics covered will include best practices for item- and collection-level metadata, file naming, and systems for capturing metadata. Dublin Core and Encoded Archival Description (EAD) will also be addressed.

The State Archives provides grants to local governments through its competitive grant program, the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF). When applying for an LGRMIF grant, any proposals over $25,000 should strive to incorporate a certain percentage of goods and/or services from M/WBE vendors. Join us for an explanation of the M/WBE program and a walk-through of how to submit a complete program packet. Please note that this is a separate (but related) process from the application for grant funding. This presentation is Part 6 of a six-part series of informational webinars on this grant program.

This webinar:

• Gives a brief overview of the M/WBE program.
• Explains the levels of compliance/participation.
• Reviews the various forms necessary for each participation level.

Presenter: Gillian Marcus, Preservation Specialist, DHPSNY. This webinar covers the basics of mold: what it is, why it happens to archival and library materials, how to recognize it, as well as strategies for prevention and recovery. Resources for responding to a mold outbreak are also discussed. Note: In the slide titled “Inactivating Mold: Freezing,” it should say “Below -20°C/-4°F” instead of “Below -20°F.”

Maintaining electronic records is just the first part of preserving these digital records for their entire retention period.  Preservation involves different steps to ensure these files are accessible for the long term, including permanent. It is more than just uploading the records to a server and forgetting about them.

The panelists in this webinar will discuss their experiences in preserving electronic records. It will include short demonstrations of the tools they use to maintain, migrate, and preserve electronic records as well as answer questions afterwards.

Presenters:

Maureen Reynolds, County Clerk, Tompkins County

Bonita Weddle, Coordinator, Electronic Records Unit, New York State Archives

Presenter: Amanda Murray, Preservation Specialist, DHPSNY. Visual materials are a ubiquitous part of many collections that pose specific challenges to providing access. This session will discuss important considerations for the successful arrangement and description of visual materials in order to gain intellectual and physical control, improve accessibility, and provide for preservation.

If your institution houses any family history collections, chances are you have some photo albums stored in your stacks. Preserving photo albums poses unique challenges, as you need to be able to care for both the photographs inside and the book itself. In this webinar, Barbara Lemmen, Senior Photograph Conservator at the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, will go over some basic preservation techniques to help care for photo albums in your collection. Topics covered will include handling techniques, storage and housing recommendations, and resources for dealing with condition problems. This webinar is a part of an ongoing series, Photographs in the Archive, which highlights preservation strategies for photographic collections.

Presenter: Dyani Feige, Director of Preservation Services, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts. Permanently removing accessioned materials from your holdings can be daunting. However, deaccessioning is an important collections management tool, particularly for institutions that are overcrowded or have accepted every donation that came their way. This webinar will address best practices when it comes to deaccessioning, including policies and suggested workflows.

Presenter: Amelia Parks, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY. This webinar covers strategies for planning and installing exhibits of archival collections using preservation quality materials and following best practices for preservation strategies.

• Describe the different types of electronic media
• Provide practical guidelines about various preservation techniques
• Provide information about proper storage methodologies
• Discuss how to maintain access to records

Verifying that each page of each document was scanned and a true legible copy of the original is the most important step in any imaging project, but the one that is most often ignored. This webinar will explain why this step is so critical to any successful imaging project and review each step in the process of quality control and verification.

Electronic content management systems (ECMS) enable organizations to scan and store images of documents to improve access to records, as well as eliminate paper. ECM systems are also software systems that allow for the creation, indexing, management, and retrieval of documents in various formats through a single interface.

This workshop will present three examples of different ECM systems currently being used by local governments and state agencies. The presenters will demonstrate how their systems manage records and discuss various aspects of how to plan for, implement, and maintain an ECMS. The presentations will be followed by time for questions.

Presenters:

Katie Palmer-House, Town of Dover Town Clerk. Katie will provide practical advice for ECMS scanning projects related to her town’s implementation and use of shared Laserfiche system.

Chuck Piotrowski, Knowledge Management Team, New York Power Authority. Chuck will discuss his work digitizing large format records of the NYS Canal Corporation and managing them with SharePoint.

Joanne Fazzari, Corporate Records Manager, New York Power Authority. Joanne will explain their use of shared metadata across platforms and how this has allowed them to get the most out of their ECM, OpenText Content Server.

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

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.

This session will introduce key concepts such as what is a retention schedule, what are the supporting laws and regulations, and why retention schedules are a critical tool for records managers. 

This session will discuss the use of retention schedules for state agency records, including how to use the State General Schedule and agency-specific individual retention disposition authorizations, review exceptions to the retention schedules, and demonstrate how to identify which is the correct schedule to use. 

This session will provide an overview of the Local Government Retention Schedule (LGS-1), explain how local governments can use it to manage their records, and demonstrate search strategies for identifying the correct retention schedule item. 

This session will discuss how New York State agencies may work with the State Archives to develop agency-specific records retention and disposition schedules to assist them in managing their records. 

This session will discuss how New York State agencies and local governments can build customized, office-specific retention schedules using existing State Archives retention schedules.  

This session will discuss how New York State agencies and local governments can manage and dispose of their records once they have passed their legal retention period.

This session is part one of two sessions discussing what records appraisal is and how New York State local governments should evaluate and appraise their records for historical significance. 

This session is part two of two sessions discussing what records appraisal is and how New York State local governments should evaluate and appraise their records for historical significance. This session focuses on providing example scenarios of when local government records should be appraised. 

This session will discuss records appraisal and go over the New York State Archives records appraisal process for New York State agencies. 

Presenter: Samantha Forsko, Preservation Specialist, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
This webinar explores the basics of conducting a risk assessment at your institution. Conducting a risk assessment is one of the first steps an institution can take in the preparation and updating of an emergency preparedness and response plan.

Presenter: Gillian Marcus, Preservation Specialist, DHPSNY. This webinar provides an overview of collections security with a focus on protection from theft and vandalism. Topics will include secure storage, protection of materials while in use, and security policies and procedures.

Presenter: Jason Henn, Manager of Marketing & External Relations, Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts
Social Media is an excellent platform for sharing information about your organization and highlighting the collections under your care. This webinar will address the basics of establishing a social media presence for your organization on two popular platforms, Instagram and Facebook, and how they can be used to build audiences, share stories, and promote events.

Presenter: Maria Holden, Preservation Officer, New York State Office of Cultural Education. Archives, libraries, and museums of all sizes face challenges when considering how to make the most of collections storage spaces, particularly when space is limited. The presenter will discuss strategies for making the most of precious storage space as well as ways to prioritize best practices and current standards for housing and storing institutional collections.

Presenters: Amy Heuer, Manager of Marketing and Engagement, CCAHA; Lee Price, Director of Development, CCAHA
This webinar looks at fresh strategies to build audiences, promote collections, and connect with new audiences, with additional discussion of how to leverage your stories for fundraising.

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. 

Implementing cold storage solutions at your institution can pose unique challenges. Obtaining funding, purchasing equipment, packaging collections, and figuring out how to monitor temperatures are just a few of the hurdles involved in this process. In this webinar, Christine Perche will share insight and lessons learned from the implementation of cold storage solutions at Storm King Arts Center.

Presenters: Tammy Gobert, Preservation and Access Archivist, Institute Archives and Special Collections, RPI Jenifer Monger, Assistant Institute Archivist, Institute Archives and Special Collections, RPI Dealing with a large mold outbreak is one of the most difficult situations an institution can face; in this webinar, staff from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Library share insight and lessons learned after they tackled a large mold outbreak in the collections.

Presenter: Gillian Marcus, Preservation Specialist, DHPSNY
Providing stable environmental controls is one of the most important steps an institution can take to preserve its collections. As strict parameters for temperature and relative humidity can be expensive and difficult to implement for many institutions, efforts should be focused on maintaining environmental conditions that are attainable, sustainable, and cost-effective over the long term. This webinar will cover the impact temperature and relative humidity can have on collections, as well as ways to mitigate the risks posed by fluctuations or extremes. Establishing and maintaining an environmental monitoring program will also be addressed.

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. 

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.

Presenter: Susan Weinrich, Vice President of Organizational and Community Development, NYCON. Does your institution have a strategic plan? If not, this webinar will convince you to start the process!

• Providing tips on filling in the following forms: Budget Amendment Summary and the FS-10-A/Proposed Amendment for a Federal or State Project 
• A step-by-step demonstration in filling in both forms
• An explanation of the difference between a “formal” and “informal” amendment
• Getting approval for your amendment
• How to submit your amendment

If you have received a grant through the LGRMIF program, you are required to file a set of Final Reports after you have completed your project. This webinar covers the Final Project Budget and the FS-10-F/Final Expenditure forms, two of the forms that make up your Final Reports. It is part of a series that walks you through the forms that make up your Final Reports. The webinars in this series all contain a live demonstration in the eGrants system.

This webinar focuses on:

• Providing tips on filling in the Final Project Budget
• A step-by-step demonstration in filling in budget codes
• An explanation of the difference between encumbrance dates and check dates
• An overview of the forms that make up your Final Reports
• How to Submit your Final Reports

Presenter: Kate Philipson, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY. Processing archival collections, which is the work of arranging, describing, and housing materials, can sometimes feel overwhelming. Creating an initial processing plan helps to make these activities more manageable, as it proposes a clear guide to understanding any given collection and the resources that are necessary to make it accessible. This webinar will address the reasons for utilizing processing plans in your workflows, as well as the details of how to write one and implement it effectively.

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. 

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 historical records of towns, villages, cities, counties, school districts and other local governments are among the most amazing treasures for those conducting family and local history. They have the ability to paint beautiful panoramas, providing detail and color to otherwise bland lists of names, dates and places. But accessing these records, knowing what is available and where to find them, can be rather daunting.

This one-hour webinar will outline the types of historical records available at many local governments. It will explore where you may find them and the kinds of information they contain. We will also discuss some of the challenges and approaches you might use to successfully access these treasures.

This webinar will be really valuable for researchers, historians, and for all individuals who care for and make accessible historical records in local governments.

The New York State Archives develops retention schedules to help local government officials efficiently dispose of records they no longer need to keep, but we sometimes feel a little uneasy about this process. This webinar will introduce the foundational principles of using state archives retention schedules.

This webinar focuses on

• How to use State Archives local government retention schedules effectively
• How to identify specific records in a schedule
• How to avoid common pitfalls using retention schedules
• How to develop office retention schedules
• How to appropriately dispose of obsolete records

This one-hour webinar will outline the importance of retention and disposition schedules to state agencies.  We will discuss how to develop, apply, and update schedules, examine the review and approval process, and explore why retention scheduling is such an integral part of an agency’s overall records management program.

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.

Genealogist are, by far, the largest user group of New York State local government historical records. This webinar will help local government officials understand what the genealogist is looking for and why. It will provide tips and strategies on records access that help make things easier for you and the genealogist.

The State Archives provides grants to local governments through its competitive grant program, the Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF). Writing the narrative proposal is one of the most detailed parts of applying for an LGRMIF grant. The narrative also carries the most weight in points, so this webinar explains how to address that part of the application successfully. This presentation is Part 4 of a six-part series of informational webinars on this grant program.

This webinar:

• Gives a brief overview of the LGRMIF grant program.
• Reviews general writing tips.
• Addresses topics that must be covered in the grant narrative.
• Offers tips for success.

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.

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