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New Jersey Launches Public Archives Digitization Program

'An advancement as important today as the construction of the first fireproof vaults to protect New Jersey's colonial archives was nearly 250 years ago.'

New Jersey's Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (PARIS) grant program will launch this year and will fund significant advancements in county and municipal government archives and records programs statewide. Then-Governor McGreevey's proposed budget for the 2004-2005 fiscal year provided up to $28 million for grants, making PARIS one of the largest programs of its kind in the nation.

Funded by $5 document filing and recording fees collected by county clerks, PARIS grants are a key component of the New Jersey Public Records Preservation Program established by the state Legislature in July 2003 under P.L. 2003, c. 117. The program is directed by the Division of Archives and Records Management (DARM) in the Department of State.

Secretary of State Regena L. Thomas, whose department oversees DARM's administration of state and local public records, compared the impact of P.L. 2003, c. 117 to that of New Jersey's first records law, "An Act for the Preservation of the Publick Records of the Colony of New Jersey," passed in 1760. She said the new law constitutes "an advancement as important today as the construction of the first fireproof vaults to protect New Jersey's colonial archives was nearly 250 years ago."

The initial year of PARIS grants will have an intentionally tight focus to ensure that a sound foundation is laid for strategic broadening of the grant program in future years. First-year funding will support:
  • state-coordinated county needs assessment and strategic planning services
  • grants-in-aid for imaging systems and services, and electronic filing portals development and expansion
  • grants-in-aid for archival records preservation services
  • grants-in-aid for municipal needs assessment and strategic planning.
The grant program will be competitive, with awards based on applicants' demonstration of need and the quality of their proposals.

According to an article in last week's The Record of Bergen County, N.J., Morris County is among those preparing to move paper documents to digitization. All government entities, save the courts, can apply for funding.