CoSA President David Carmicheal distributed
the following update to CoSA members via the state archivists' listserv
on November 18, 2005.
18 November 2005
I want to bring CoSA members up to date on several
activities that the Board has been pursuing:
NHPRC Action on CoSA Grant Application
At its meeting on November 16, the NHPRC approved
funding for CoSA's latest grant application at $269,979. They deferred
funding for certain of the grant's second-year activities (for various
meetings) until next year's round of grants. This is excellent news
and will enable us to begin work on our Local Government Records project.
Website
The CoSA website at www.statearchivists.org
is now fully functional and has replaced the COSHRC website. Highlights
of new and updated features are summarized at www.statearchivists.org/news/2005_11_14_newsite.htm.
NHPRC Funding
The Senate and House still have not gone to conference
committee to reconcile their budget differences. CoSA signed onto a
joint letter that urged conferees "on the Treasury/Transportation
funding bill (H.R. 3058) to support the funding recommendations for
the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
advanced in the House version of this legislation: $5.5 million for
grants and $2 million for administrative and staffing support for this
small but vital program."
The federal budget is still very much up in the air
and there is still the possibility of an across-the-board cut of at
least 2%. We will continue to coordinate with NARA to push for NHPRC
funding. The text of the joint letter may be found http://www.statearchivists.org/issues/NHPRC-NARA-06budget/2005-11-03-NHPRCfunding-jtlttr.htm
[Further UPDATE:
Just after David Carmicheal distributed his report, we received word
that the Conference Committee had met and accepted the House figures
for the NHPRC appropriation: $7.5 million, which includes $5.5 million
for grants and $2 million to restore cuts in administrative costs. The
final step will be approval in the Senate.]
National Initiative
The Board has been working with NARA to secure funding
for the National Initiative. Allen Weinstein has requested funds in
the 2007 budget as the first step in what we hope will be an ongoing
program. In light of this year's hurricane disasters, the initial funding
may be specifically targeted at creating disaster plans in each state,
though the definition of "disaster plan" may vary from state
to state. We continue to strategize regarding the best way to move the
Initiative forward.
Katrina Response
Karl Niederer (NJ) represented CoSA on a three-day
visit to Mississippi and Louisiana in early November. Karl traveled
with Allen Weinstein and others, and the trip resulted in good press
coverage for the state archives in those states.
CoSA is now an official member of the Heritage
Emergency National Task Force. Conley Edwards (VA) will represent
CoSA at a meeting of the Task Force in late January or early February
2006. CoSA has begun planning for a conference for Gulf and South Atlantic
state archivists in early 2006 to discuss 'lessons learned' and recommend
future steps in disaster preparedness.
Joint Meeting
Planning continues for the joint
CoSA/SAA/NAGARA annual meeting in July 2006. The Program Committee
meets December 2-4. Jerry Handfield (WA) and Vicki Walch will be attending
on behalf of CoSA. The committee received more than 140 session proposals
for the possible 70 or so available slots in the program. Overall, they
are very strong, so the joint meeting is guaranteed to be both engaging
and informative for all.
Under the terms of our 2006-07 grant, NHPRC funds
will not be covering the entire cost of travel for CoSA members, so
the Board is exploring various alternatives to cover the small percentage
that will not be grant-funded. We will keep you informed of those discussions.
Current Grant
Vicki Walch has completed tables for all of the questions
in the FY2004 CoSA survey of state archives and records programs. For
now, they are available online in a password-protected section of the
CoSA website. You can log in and view the data by going to www.statearchivists.org/data/logger.asp.
The UserID is "ArchRecMgt" and the password is "streview"
(both are case sensitive).
Electronic versions of the manuals for state coordinators
and SHRAB members which were also prepared with funds from the current
grant will be available soon on the CoSA website in a new "SHRAB
Support Center."
Vicki is working on a report which will analyze the
survey data and include "profiles" for each state. The Survey
Management Team will meet in early 2006 along with a "Blue Ribbon
Panel" (comprising representatives from key user groups and allied
professional associations) to develop and refine a final set of performance
measures for state archives and SHRABs. We will be requesting an extension
of the grant through August 31, 2005.
CoSA Dues
To date, CoSA has received FY2005 dues payments from
33 states totaling $29,200. That compares to FY2004 payments from 38
states totaling $32,400. Six states have requested invoices totaling
an additional $7,850 which would meet our budgetary goal for this year,
but it is not clear that all of those payments will be forthcoming as
they work their way through state-level approvals.
Finally
Last, but not least, let me thank the Board and other
members who have been working on these (and many other) projects. The
level of dedication shown by members of CoSA continues to amaze and
gratify me. Kathleen Roe and Vicki Walch, in particular, continue to
work about 90 hours a week on CoSA projects, or so it seems, and we
could not move forward without their commitment. Thank you all!
David W. Carmicheal
President
Council of State Archivists
