Meeting of the Board of Regents | December 2009

Cultural Education Committee Minutes

December 15, 2009

Time: 8:40 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.        Location: Seminar Room, 5th Floor, EB

REGENTS COMMITTEE ON CULTURAL EDUCATION

Regent James C. Dawson, Chair of the Cultural Education Committee, submitted the following written report.

Your Committee on Cultural Education (CE) had its scheduled meeting on December 15, 2009.

In attendance were: Regents Dawson, Bowman, Phillips and Tilles.  In addition to CE Committee Members, Commissioner Steiner and Board Members in attendance included Chancellor Tisch, Regents Bottar, Cea

Absent: Regent Brooks Hopkins

ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Chairs’ Remarks: Regent Dawson greeted everyone and opened the meeting. 

Deputy’s Report: Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey Cannell greeted everyone and provided a brief update on a meeting with the Governor’s Office and Division of Budget.  The Deputy’s OCE Monthly Report was distributed to the Board of Regents prior to the meeting.

CE(D) 1 – Progress Report on Managing Electronic Records in New York State (P)

Christine Ward, State Archivist and Assistant Commissioner for the Archives provided background information on this Item.

Geof Huth, Director of Government Records Services in the New York State Archives presented the report to the Committee focusing on not only the challenges faced with preserving and managing New York’s electronic (digital) records and the importance of preservation and management of electronic records, but the funding necessary to properly carry out this responsibility or New York will be at risk of losing its digital heritage.

There is no single preservation solution for electronic records. Unlike paper records, electronic records require a higher level of attention to preserve, make accessible, and to sustain a usable format as technology changes.  Consequently, as technology changes, there is a constant need to update skills, approaches and problem-solving techniques as new problems occur.

Long-term costs of managing electronic records will exceed the State Archives’ current resources.  New York’s history is increasing digitally and it is crucial to preserve electronic records to preserve this age.  Funding is essential to meet our obligations.

An opportunity for questions and/or comments was extended to the Committee.

Emergency Amendment of Regents Rule §3.27, Relating to Museum Collections Management Policies

Time was allotted for discussion regarding the above Item.  The proposed amendment was discussed by the Cultural Education Committee and adopted by the Full Board as an emergency action at the December 2008 Regents meeting, effective December 19, 2008, and was readopted as emergency actions at the March, April, June, July and October 2009 Regents meetings.  If adopted by the Board of Regents at the December 2009 meeting, this emergency action will become effective on January 13, 2010.

Regent Dawson proposed the Emergency Regulations be forwarded to the Consent Agenda.

The meeting adjourned at 9:45 a.m.