Executive records symposium, Albany, New York, 20-21 May 2010

Do you have a personal or professional interest in ensuring that the official records of presidents, governors, attorneys general, mayors, and other elected executives receive the proper care? If so, you might want to come to Albany, New York on 20-21 May.

The records of elected executives document important policy and resource allocation decisions, and in many instances are essential to the study of state history and state government. However, in New York and many other states, the records of elected executives are not always transferred to the state archives or to other repositories. Moreover, most of these records are now created or maintained in electronic systems and are thus at risk of being rendered inaccessible by changes in technology or lost as a result of human error, decay of storage media, or equipment failure.

On 20-21 May 2010, the New York State Archives Partnership Trust and the Albany Law School’s Government Law Center will join forces to highlight the need for effective executive recordkeeping at all. Documenting Leadership: A Symposium on Public Executive Records in the 21^st Century will explore the importance of the records generated by governors and other elected public executives, including presidents, attorneys general, and mayors.

Richard Thornburgh, the former Governor of Pennsylvania (1979-1987) and U.S. Attorney General (1988-1991), and Richard Norton Smith, the nationally recognized Presidential historian, will deliver keynote addresses.

In addition, panelists drawn from the ranks of government, the news media, historians, public policy researchers, and the legal community will discuss the issues associated with managing, preserving, and accessing records of elected public officials who have executive responsibilities:

• The importance of executive-level records for the administration of government and implementation of public policy, and, at an administration’s end, for the historical record
  
• The special challenges of protecting sensitive information while assuring government transparency and accountability
  
• Best practices and model programs in other states and at the federal level
• Elements of model legislation

And to top it all off, on the evening of 20 May a reception for speakers and attendees will be held at the New York State Executive Mansion (reservation absolutely, positively required!)

For more details about Documenting Leadership symposium, which will be held in the Dean Alexander Moot Court Room of Albany Law School's 1928 Building, check out the online program. Please note that although this event is free and open to the public, advance registration for both the symposium and the reception is required.