Playbook: preserving your agency's history: don't let time slip by--capture your agency's past now.

For those of you working in governmental agencies, a portion of your agency history is documented in meeting minutes, planning documents and publicity materials. But do these materials capture the character of your organization?

Just as your agency has more depth than a box of plans and minutes, your strategy for archiving the history should include more than just the items that organizations are legally bound to keep. Beyond just recording your agency culture, archives may be used for marketing and community outreach. Here are some steps and resources to get started.

1. Identify a Historian

Find at least one person in the agency who may be interested in researching the agency history or is responsible for agency record keeping. It is important that this person be provided with some basic information on how to create and maintain an archive.

2. Inventory What is Available

What kind of information does your agency generate--minutes, photographs advertisements, video? What historical information has been retained? Conducting an inventory will direct the historian in knowing how much space will be needed for the archive, preservation issues that should be considered, and identify possible items that should be retained in the future.

3. Create a Contents Policy

Using the inventory and other research as a guide, the historian can create a contents policy. The contents policy can range from a list of required and desired items for the archive to a set of guidelines that might include acceptable formats for digital items, file labeling instructions or a timeframe when items should be submitted. Once the policy is written, it is important to receive management approval and support. Try to keep the contents policy realistic to the scope of time and resources available in your community.

4. Store Items Correctly

When putting the effort into preserving items for your agency, select the proper storage supplies. Many paper products today are manufactured with acidic compounds that can damage, discolor or erode. With the popularity of scrap-booking, there are a variety of acid-flee archival storage products available at craft stores and on the Internet. Photographs, slides and negatives are especially susceptible to exposure to light and acidic environments. Another alternative would be to see if your state/local historical society/museum, library or historian would serve as a repository for the collection.

5. Get the Archive Out Of The Box

Now that the history has been preserved, how can it be used to benefit the organization? Anniversary years and annual events are great places to publicize the history of your organization. Be sure to use copies of items in the collection for exhibits and displays rather than your original. These displays are examples of how far your agency has come since the "good ol' days."

Does the task seem daunting? While some portions of the plan are best handled by staff, portions of the work are suitable for volunteer groups. Once the items are collected, volunteers can be used to organize, file and enter data about the collection items in an electronic file. Volunteers may also be used to contact local media, past employees and partner groups to see if they have materials that could be added to the collection.

Web Extra: Go online for copies of NRPA's Archive Policy and links to helpful resources for the budding agency historian.

www.nrpa.org/p&r

Meredith Bridgers is the information resources manager at NRPA where she also oversees the Joseph Lee Memorial Library and Archives. Previously size served as a marketing specialist for the Town of Cary, N.C., Park, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department.