Save the Georgia Archives!

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has announced that the Georgia Archives will be CLOSED to all public access beginning Nov. 1, 2012. He cites as reason the requirement for a 3% budget reduction for all state agencies. Secretary Kemp has chosen to take the required cut of $732,626 entirely and only from the State Archives. In addition to the elimination of public access, he has fired all but three employees. Can any other department within the Secretary of State's office, such as Securities, Corporations, Elections, or Licensing function with only three employees? Neither can the Georgia Archives.

This action further cripples an institution that was among the first state archives established (1918), has won many awards for its programs and state-of-the-art archival facility, and has been a respected leader in archives, government records programs, and research use. Over the past decade, however, the Georgia Archives has been eviscerated by regular budget cuts, reductions in staff and reductions in public hours to two days a week. Now Secretary Kemp wants to eliminate even those few hours of access for Georgia’s citizens, making Georgia Archives the only state archives without public access hours.

Transparency of government is one of the hallmarks of a free and democratic society. Shutting down the Archives and denying citizens predictable and ready access to the records does not make any sense. It is even written into state law (OCGA 50-18-70) that all public records "shall be open for a personal inspection by any citizen of this state at a reasonable time and place, and those in charge of such records shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen." There is no way that the suggested appointments to see the records will work, especially if you leave just three employees, one of which is in charge of the maintenance of the building. That actually leaves two people to do the following work: 

• Archival Services: Makes historic records of permanent research value available to the public. Responsible for accessioning and physical processing of records. Describes the Archives’ records and books through indexes and catalogs; maintains the Division’s web site and databases. Oversees preservation and reformatting and digitizes records for access. Provides outreach preservation services through consulting, publications and training.
• Public Services: Helps the public use archival records on‐site and by e‐mail. Provides opportunities for public involvement through outreach activities as well as our volunteer, internship, and Friends programs. Organizes education and exhibit programs.
• Records and Information Management Services: Helps state agencies and local governments manage current records efficiently through workshops, consultations, technical leaflets, and retention period.
• State Records Center: Stores the inactive records of state agencies until they have reached the end of their retention period. 
• Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board: Helps local governments, historical societies, libraries, museums Records Advisory and other repositories through grants, an awards program, and Board (GHRAB) preferred practices for historical records programs.

Also be aware that by firing the State Preservation Officer, there is now no one at the state level to help institutions or agencies in the event of a natural (or man-made) disaster, possibly resulting in the loss or damage of official records.

Some have suggested that the state should just keep the building open with volunteers. While volunteers are very valuable, they cannot replace trained professionals such as archivists and records managers, who have gone through exhaustive training, certifications, and graduate-level education. The institutional memory of the staff who have just been laid off on September 18 is also irreplaceable, and they need to be brought back immediately. 

The Georgia Archives will possibly also lose federal grant money as well. They just received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, entitled "Sustaining Georgia's Historical Records." It is an implementation project to upgrade environmental control and lighting systems to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs, while improving preservation environments for government records and manuscripts documenting nearly three centuries of Georgia's history and culture. Ironically, this was granted by the NEH's Division of Preservation and Access. If the Archives is shut down, the grant monies will most likely have to be returned.

On Wednesday the Governor pledged to keep the Archives open, but then said on Thursday (through a form letter) that since the Archives is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State, all inquiries had to go through Secretary Kemp. Also on Wednesday, it was reported that the Governor gave one of his campaign donors $4.5 million of the state's money on a privately-owned resort at Lake Lanier. I thought that the state was under a mandate to reduce wasteful spending. What's more important? Giving back (literally) to campaign donors or upholding the legal mandate to keep the records in the Georgia Archives open and available for review by the citizens?

How can you help?

You can read about the outrage on the change.org petition site, and at this time that I'm writing this, the number is over 14,000. There are researchers, scholars, historians, and archivists from all over Georgia, all over the U.S., and from many countries who have signed this petition. The first 10,000 of these signatures were hand-delivered to Governor Nathan Deal on Wednesday, September 19.

The Society of Georgia Archivists put together a great slide show filled with information about why saving the Archives is important. The show also provides background on the budget. Pack your letters to elected officials with these facts!

You can keep up with the latest developments on the Friends of the Georgia Archives page.

Please also join the Georgians Against Closing State Archives Facebook page.

Ask Representative Brooks Coleman and Senator David Shafer (our Duluth legislators) to:

1. Help restore a minimum of $1 million to the Georgia Archives budget to return its operations to five days a week of public access hours and eliminate projected staff reductions.
2. Reverse the Secretary of State's proposed budget cuts to the Archives November 1 to ensure uninterrupted service to the public.

The current administration is creating a travesty that is entirely avoidable. Please help us reverse the Secretary of State's decision by standing up and supporting the Georgia Archives!