Iowa City, Iowa. October 17, 2007—State and local government agencies throughout the United States will be better prepared to protect essential records during emergencies thanks to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant. The agency awarded $2.6 million to the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) to lead a new national initiative to provide critical training to state and local government agencies in every state, the District of Columbia, and the territories.
When state and local governments are faced with natural or manmade disasters, certain records help them respond to and recover from the emergency. The Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER) project will develop workshops for delivery nationwide designed to teach state and local governments how to identify and protect their most essential records and recover those damaged by disasters.
According to Vicki Walch, Executive Director of CoSA, the need for such a program became apparent in 2005 during the organization’s response to Hurricane Katrina. “Archivists discovered that records were not identified as an asset of government in the National Response Plan,” said Walch. “We knew from experience that whether a disaster is a localized fire or a widespread terrorist attack, the governments with good records management programs in place are best prepared to respond to and recover from an emergency.”
David Carmicheal, director of The Georgia Archives who will chair the project’s Advisory Board, cites examples of records used by governments during emergencies: “At crucial times states, cities, and counties immediately turn to documents containing communication plans and delegations of authority. Infrastructure records tell them where the gas mains and electrical lines are and whether bridges and tunnels can withstand the stress of the disaster. All of these help the government respond at the moment of the emergency,” Carmicheal observed. “After the disaster, governments need records to restore the community. Deeds and other property records, court records, and historical records help put a community back together again and restore order.”
The IPER initiative will develop a national curriculum and create Web-based seminars, which will be customized to meet specific needs and concerns at the state and local levels. Teams from each state will enhance the curriculum with guidance about state-specific regulations and ways to prepare for the kinds of disasters most common in the region. They will then deliver the training to state, local, and tribal government agencies statewide.
The state archives and records management program will coordinate each state’s team. Other team members will include representatives from the state emergency management agency, the state chief information officer and information technology agency, as well as a local government representative. The regional offices of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will actively support this effort.
Rex Wamsley is director of FEMA’s national Continuity of Operations Division. He noted that the “development of common training for use in each of the states will enhance the potential for inter-governmental cooperation throughout the nation. FEMA’s national and regional offices have been working actively with the National Archives and state archives for the last two years to protect essential records. We want to ensure that governments at all levels can recover and resume operations quickly following a natural disaster or other emergency. Records are key to that process. The IPER project will allow us to reach into every county, city, and village nationwide, giving officials the information they need to protect essential records in time of crisis.”
Conley Edwards, state archivist of Virginia and president of the Council of State Archivists, the organization which is leading the project, commented, “We are thrilled by the support received from FEMA’s Competitive Training Grants Program for this project. It will ensure that state and local governments know how to secure records that are essential to protecting life, property, and individual rights as well as those that are necessary to restoring order and resuming essential operations of government following a disaster.”
“The Council of State Archivist would like to thank the National Archives and Records Administration and FEMA’s Continuity of Operations Division,” Edwards added. “Their partnership and commitment contributed significantly to the success of this proposal. In tragedies that have occurred throughout the nation, vital records have been lost or compromised. This training and support will maximize the potential for governments to safeguard our nation’s documentary heritage and, as importantly, ensure that our nation’s identity and that of its citizens will be safeguarded.”
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.
More information on the IPER project and CoSA’s nationwide Emergency Preparedness Initiative is available on the organization’s Web site: www.statearchivists.org/prepare.
Contacts:
David W. Carmicheal, IPER Advisory Board Chair and Director, The Georgia Archives, 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow GA 30260. Telephone: 678-364-3714. dcarmicheal@sos.state.ga.us.
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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Photos to accompany this press release on the
Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER) Project
are available at http://www.statearchivists.org/prepare/iper/photos-10-2007release.htm
