THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Cultural Education Trusteeship Committee
FROM:	Christine W. Ward, Acting Deputy Commissioner
TITLE OF ITEM:	Stewardship in Today’s Information Environment
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	January 22, 2007
STRATEGIC GOAL:	4
AUTHORIZATION(S):

SUMMARY:

 

Issue for Discussion

 

How can the Regents and the institutions of the Office of Cultural Education best direct stewardship efforts and responsibilities in the light of changes in technology and information?

 

Reason(s) for Consideration

 

Review of policy.

 

Proposed Handling

 

The Regents will review and discuss the opportunities and the challenges of applying digital technology in the New York State Library and the New York State Archives.

 

Background Information

 

Stewardship of the assets of New York’s cultural education institutions has been significantly impacted by changes in technology and information. The ways in which information is created, packaged, stored, retrieved, and preserved have all been transformed dramatically in a comparatively brief span of time.

 

While traditional collections were predominantly print-based, conservation and preservation issues were well understood. The balance between access to collections and stewardship for future access could be based on well-established practices and long-term knowledge and experience.

 

In today’s information environment, digital technologies have redefined the packages in which information can be presented, and our experience with these technologies is too short to predict their practical life spans. While we see the benefits of using digital technologies for access without compromising original materials, digitization does not yet offer a tested, reliable, long-term means of preservation.

 

Within this dynamic environment, collaborations with other institutions are increasingly appropriate to avoid duplication of effort and to promote local endeavors. Joint ventures in building digital repositories and centralized print repositories with online delivery are increasingly feasible.

 

All these factors require us to rethink and redefine the scope of stewardship as well as the knowledge and skills needed by stewards of information.

 

Recommendation

 

Staff recommend that the Regents support efforts to build and maintain a robust technology infrastructure within OCE and to equip staff with the skills to use appropriate emerging technologies for both access and preservation. A major step in this direction will be the implementation of a new OCE-wide discovery system to provide access to all collections and include collaborative repositories across New York State.

 

Timetable for Implementation

 

The plan is to implement a new OCE-wide information system that will be operational within three years.