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To ensure equity and diversity in all areas of our work, it is important to implement equitable recruitment and hiring processes. Many cultural heritage organizations have successfully integrated new steps into their recruitment and hiring processes, and this work is ongoing. Recently, several professional organizations have provided new resources to aid in undertaking these steps.

This summer, the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) human resources department shared some of the equitable hiring practices they are…

Effective preservation planning is key in ensuring time and resources are budgeted adequately in support of the collections. A Preservation Plan is an essential institutional document that helps collecting institutions thoughtfully and carefully chart a course for the preservation of their collections. 

In Preservation Planning: A Primer, participants will be introduced to preservation planning and will learn the steps necessary for writing one for their institution. Topics addressed will include:  

• …

The Metropolitan New York Library Council, known as METRO, has recently announced a second cycle of the Equity in Action grant program. While eligibility is open only to METRO member institutions, or an institution that partners with a METRO member, DHPSNY thought it was important to highlight this work as an active example of direct financial support for “digital [cultural heritage] projects that focus on anti-racist practices and marginalized communities.” METRO serves a network of libraries,…

We're excited to announce a new Planning & Assessment Services class from our second application round of 2021! We look forward to beginning virtual site visits for the following institutions in the coming months. The next deadline to submit applications is Friday, November 5, 2021.

Click here to read the full press release.

Archival Needs Assessments

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In our most recent live webinar presentation, Christine Persche, Archivist, Storm King Art Center, shared insight and lessons learned from the implementation of cold storage solutions. This presentation covered obtaining funding, purchasing equipment, packaging collections, and figuring out how to monitor temperatures.

Click here to view the recording.

Click here to download the slideshow.

Join us on…

In our most recent live webinar presentation, Kate Philipson, Archives Specialist, DHPSNY, explored practical steps to help you create finding aids on a basic level. She discussed how to prioritize the required elements of a finding aid so that archival description feels attainable, while building upon the 2017 DHPSNY webinar about finding aids. She also shared further details about Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) by discussing the DACS update process, and examining how the DACS Principles help to frame description work.

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Understanding the 10 Agents of Deterioration is a 2-week, virtual course that will cover basic knowledge needed to identify and understand the 10 Agents of Deterioration that may threaten your collections: Light; Incorrect Temperature; Incorrect Relative Humidity; Fire; Water; Pests; Pollutants; Physical Forces; Theft & Vandalism; and Custodial Neglect. Risk assessment and mitigation strategies will also be discussed.

This online course is intended for individuals who manage cultural collections, with a focus on those who are new to archival preservation,…

This month marks one full year that DHPSNY has been coordinating, writing about, and sharing antiracism resources for collecting institutions in this blog series. We have compiled a lot of ideas and projects from around the archives, libraries, museums, conservation, and public history fields that speak to improving access to collections and highlighting the stories of BIPOC and traditionally marginalized populations in the historical record. We hope that some of these tools and examples have been beneficial for expanding and improving your work towards inclusion and equity, both in…

Tropical Storm Henri is expected to strengthen into a hurricane over the western Atlantic by Friday, potentially continuing on a path that could affect northeastern states from Long Island to Cape Cod.

Here are some tips to help you protect your collections:

• Know what's coming your way. Track the storm here.
• Visit the State Archives disaster assistance guidelines.
• Call the State Archives main number …