Iowa City, Iowa. August 10, 2007—It’s just a matter of time before a hurricane, tornado, fire, flood, or other unexpected catastrophe strikes a state or community. The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) is leading a nationwide effort to help state and local governments ensure that essential records are protected during these kinds of emergencies.
CoSA is an organization consisting of the directors of the principal archival agency for every state and territory in the United States. At its annual conference in July 2007, CoSA awarded Certificates of Preparedness to all 50 state archives recognizing their efforts to protect irreplaceable records—both those in their custody and those held by other agencies statewide—from natural disasters and other threats.
CoSA launched its Emergency Preparedness Initiative immediately following the 2005 hurricanes that devastated the Gulf coast. With the participation of state archivists and records managers nationwide and support from major partners like the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), CoSA has completed several major milestones in the initiative.
The Certificates of Preparedness awarded in July 2007 recognize each state archives for completing a detailed assessment of records-related preparedness in its state and compiling a basic emergency communication and response plan for its staff. CoSA used the results of these assessments to compile Safeguarding a Nation’s Identity, a report that highlights major findings and action steps needed to prepare for future records-related emergencies. The report also underscores the important role records play every day in the lives of American citizens, protecting their lives, property, and rights, and ensuring that order and normal operations can be restored following a disaster.
Together, the assessments and report provide a baseline against which CoSA and the state archives can measure progress in improving records-related emergency preparedness nationwide. Two major deficiencies noted in early 2006 were a widespread lack of understanding about the importance of records to the resumption of government operations following a disaster and weak connections between state archives and their respective state emergency management offices.
CoSA has been working with NARA and FEMA to strengthen ties at the state and regional levels among records professionals and first responders and to make training available to state and local governments about records-related preparedness and response. “Effective response to any emergency depends on solid working relationships,” asserts Rex Wamsley, director of FEMA’s National Continuity of Operations Division. “It is essential that state archivists and emergency managers get to know each other long before an emergency strikes. Access to essential records is a critical need in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.”
September is National Preparedness Month in the United States. Conley Edwards, state archivist of Virginia and CoSA’s current president, notes that, “State archivists look forward to joining this nationwide effort along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to educate the public about preparing for emergencies of all kinds while raising awareness about the importance of records.”
To learn more about CoSA’s nationwide Emergency Preparedness Initiative, visit www.statearchivists.org/prepare.
The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) is a national organization comprising the directors of the principal archival agencies in each state and territorial government. Working collectively through their membership in CoSA, the State Archivists encourage cooperation among the states on matters of mutual interest, define and communicate archival and records concerns at a national level, and work with the National Archives and other national organizations to ensure that our nation's documentary heritage is preserved and made accessible.
Contacts:
Victoria Walch, Executive Director, Council of State Archivists, 308 East Burlington Street #189, Iowa City IA 52240. Telephone: 319-338-0248. vwalch@statearchivists.org.
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