2024 CoSA Annual Meeting Program

• Advocacy
• Records & Information Management (RIM)
• Reference
• Electronic Records
• Education/Outreach
• E-mail processing
• SHRABs
• Software Specific
• Emergency/Disaster Preparedness
• America250
• Cultural Competency

• Emily Allen, Archives and Records Management Specialist 3, New York State Archives

We are constantly grappling with figuring out where the records should go and then reviewing records we want to take and figuring out where they should be stored. This session will be an opportunity to talk about and share experiences about improving physical access to records and ensuring records needed most are on site. Share lessons learned from off-site storage facilities and vendors. And if planning for a new facility, how to plan for space needs. How does that balance with the projected increase of digital records space? Staff at the New York State Archives are grappling with these very things right now. We will share our experiences and invite you to share yours!

• Anna Holley, State Archivist, History Nebraska

A great migration is underway for the State Archives at History Nebraska. Finding aids are being moved into one archival management system (ArchivesSpace) from a variety of sources and formats, including spreadsheets, Past Perfect records, web pages, and typewritten documents. This is the first time our collections will be EAD-encoded, DACS compliant, and keyword searchable in one system, greatly improving access. We will explore how this project came to be, how it has been funded, problems we ran into and how we solved (some) of them, and where we are at now. We hope participants are inspired to think big about improving access to their collections, even in the face of staffing and resource limitations.

• Debbie Bahn, Digital State Archivist, Washington State Archives
• Sarah Dana, State Archives Manager, Washington State Archives
• Marry Hammer, Digital Projects & Preservation Archivist, Washington State Archives

Calls for access can come in many forms, including activist legislation, grassroots movements, and the donation of private/political collections. How has Washington State Archives responded to demands that resulted in significant work and projects that weren’t planned for? We will share our experiences of building new infrastructure for the website, restructuring priorities, creating positions and project plans, and collaborating with stakeholders—all in the name of access. First, learn about Washington legislature’s SB 6125, which unexpectedly pulled the Archives into activist led legislation. The bill, which passed in 2024, calls for the rescue, preservation, and access to at-risk materials from a state-operated facility that served individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Second, the donation of personal scrapbooks from a former Governor and former Secretary of State came with the condition that we make them accessible online. We collaborated with developers to achieve this, and the result was a real “page turner.” Finally, the grassroots group known as the Hanford Downwinders (those who were exposed to radiation from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation) sought our assurance that their collection of donated materials, including oral histories, would be given broad access. Once again, we worked with developers, this time to create a searchable oral history series for our website. All three projects departed from our traditional work of preserving and providing access to standard government agency records. These projects were "by the people, for the people."

• Allen Ramsey, Assistant State Archivist, Connecticut State Library
• Lizette Pelletier, State Archivist, Connecticut State Library

Overwhelmed from reviewing records for personally identifiable information requiring redaction? The Connecticut State Archives sought to improve its process for preserving archival documents and significantly reduce the time spent redacting records. State Archives staff realized that automating the manual redaction process could potentially save thousands of hours of work per year and allow staff to focus on more valuable work. This session will focus on how Archives staff took advantage of a Congressionally Directed Spending (earmark) funding opportunity in 2022 to develop an automated solution for reviewing and redacting these types of records. Slalom, a professional IT consulting firm on state contract, built a software solution leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables archivists to upload files into a system that automatically redacts PII and PHI. Staff can review, approve, or reject files prior to transmission to the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).

• Jonathan Pringle, Archives Division Director, State Archives of New Mexico
• Karen Gray, State Archivist, Alaska State Archives
• Kate McBrien, State Archivist, Main State Archives
• Patricia Nunes, Archives & Records Management Director, Oklahoma State Archives

Since the release of the Protocols for Native American Archival Materials in 2006, professional organizations (such as the Society of American Archivists) have grappled with interpreting and executing these best practices. Most recently, SAA formed the Archival Repatriation Committee, tasked with the goal of supporting archivists in repatriating and receiving archival materials. How does CoSA and its members work to improve collaborative relationships with our repositories' Native American and Indigenous neighbors? And what sort of template can be created that addresses the unique environment in which state archives nationwide manage public records vis-a-vis considerations for cultural sensitivity and Indigenous data sovereignty? This attendee-participation-encouraged session will explore existing tensions and see the building of a framework for subsequent exploration and evaluation.

• Becky McGee-Lankford, Assistant State Records Administrator, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
• Sarah Koonts, State Archivist, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

The foundation of a successful archival program for government records is rooted in a sound collection policy that functions in connection with retention and disposition schedules. Appraisal is the first step in determining which records represent the archives’ collecting policy. Retention schedules identify those records that are scheduled to transfer to the Archives for permanent preservation.

Since the implementation of the Functional Schedule for State Agencies in 2017, the State Archives of North Carolina designated numerous series as “Appraisal required.” This status provides agencies with notice that the records may need to be transferred for permanent storage, but evaluation is needed to ensure that the records are indeed archival. Through the appraisal process archivists evaluate the content of the records to determine if any changes have taken place that may alter the value of the record. Depending on the appraisal we may continue to collect the records or deaccession existing holdings.

This presentation will discuss our active reappraisal program and how we evaluate an archival record series to determine if the content and value has changed, as well as the steps we take after the appraisal process is complete.

• Kris Stenson, State Records Manager, Oregon State Archives

For the last 7 years, there has been a directive straight from the Oregon Governor's office for government agencies to inventory and provide access to public records that could have tribal cultural value. The Oregon State Archives will talk about how this effort culminated in legislation drafted by our office that went to the heart of the public records law, actually modifying the root definition of a public record. With everything from putting a destruction hold on certain categories of records to modifying retention periods after feedback from Oregon's nine federally recognized tribes, lessons learned will be shared to help facilitate discussion.

• Roger Christman, Senior State Records Archivist, Library of Virginia
• Gordon Cormack, Professor, David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science (retired)

In 2020, the Library of Virginia contracted with Gordon Cormac and Maura Grossman, two professors in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, to use artificial intelligence (AI) to process the email from the Office of the Governor. The specific technology the Library used is known as Continuous Active Learning (CAL), a system that uses algorithms to make predictions about which documents are most likely to be relevant—in this case, which e-mails are most likely to be archival records that are open to the public. This session will demonstrate the use of CAL by the Library to process 6.3 million emails from the administration of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (2010-2014). The demo will describe how CAL works, the technical setup to use CAL, the human training of the tool by an archivist, the results, and lessons learned.

• Melissa Coy, Reformatting Program Manager and Digital Initiatives Team Lead, Utah State Archives and Records Service
• Jim Kichas, Assistant Director, Utah State Archives and Records Service

Microfilm technology is quickly becoming obsolete. It is increasingly difficult to source processor parts for legacy machines, and it's nearly impossible to find technicians who can service the equipment. Recent shortages in raw film exposed the risks of relying on this medium as a preservation solution. We live and work in a digital environment, but digital-to-microfilm conversion services cannot keep pace with the vast amount of digital content created by government entities, nor does it accurately preserve the authenticity and integrity of the original digital files. Often discussions around long-term preservation pit microfilm against digital preservation technologies. This presentation aims to reframe the conversation. Instead of asking which of these technologies is best, we should recognize that they are wholly different, and make plans to retire microfilm services in order to make the necessary pivot to preserve and provide access to born-digital records in their proper environment. We are open to this being a topic for a panel or roundtable discussion as well. We want to hear from other State Archives about how they have adapted to current conditions and demands.

• Monica Gray, Director, Archival Services, New York State Archives
• Christina Miller, Reference Services Manager, Missouri State Archives
• Eowyn Montgomery, Illinois State Archives

State hospital, prison and court records are a tremendous resource for research into genealogy and family medical history. Unfortunately various state laws limit access for a variety of reasons. As we develop new MOUs with agencies we are interested in learning from other states and sharing our experiences of administering the law, accommodating changing interpretations of the law, and developing procedures to implement it consistently.

• Josh Hager, Head, Records Description Unit, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources-State Archives
• Sarah Koonts, State Archivist, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources-State Archives
• Dave Joens, Director, Illinois State Archives

Outreach is an essential portion of state archival work. It can highlight our collections, promote our services, build new audiences and provide assistance to other archival institutions and organizations in your state. Finding new audiences may mean identifying new forms of outreach and identifying those not typically served by existing programming. Sharing the success, challenges, and lessons from these new outreach initiatives is an important step in growing our work.

The State Archives of NC has sought new audiences and platforms to promote the rich stories contained within their collections. Partnering with the State Library of NC, we started a NC trivia program. Using virtual and in-person events that contain general or specially curated content, these trivia events have proven to be a fun, competitive, and unique way to highlight our collections.

“Connecting the Docs: True Stories from the Old North State,” the State Archives of North Carolina’s podcast, uses stories from the archives to broaden state history and increase accessibility to the collections. It also focuses on demystifying the historical research process emphasizing the storytelling strength of the platform. From Revolutionary War collections to unprocessed documents to on-location recording, we will share lessons from our first four podcast seasons. In 2022, the Illinois State Archives did an outreach program on the basics of conservation geared towards traditionally under-served communities. We partnered with the Chicago Public Library and gave three classes on conservation: two were held at public libraries in African American neighborhoods in Chicago and one was at a public library in a Mexican-American neighborhood. Our results were mixed but we learned some valuable lessons.

• Erika Woehlk, Visual Materials Archivist, Missouri State Archives
• Mary Stansfield, Supervising Archivist, Missouri State Archives
• Christina Miller, Reference Services Manager, Missouri State Archives

The film and television industries have clear rating systems for content, but there is no equivalent for still pictures. Using the photograph collections at the Missouri State Archives, we developed a policy for processing still pictures with potential graphic and sensitive content. The policy covers identification, outlines specific steps for archivists to follow when processing the photographs and includes instructions on patron access. This session will cover the development of the policy and the challenges we faced. The policy is a living document and we hope to conclude the session with feedback from attendees.

• Hilda Teresa Ayala, Puerto Rico
• Karen Gray, Alaska
• Susan Lugo, Heritage Preservation Consulting
• Raymond Muna, Northern Mariana Islands
• Helen Wong Smith, University of Hawaii