Brian Burke, senior program associate at CTG, conducted a workshop for South Dakota state government managers on strategies for improving the management and preservation of government information in digital form. The half-day workshop was held in Pierre, South Dakota and included staff from approximately 20 South Dakota state government agencies.

In addition to presentations on the importance of managing and preserving government digital information and strategies for improving states' abilities to do so, Brian facilitated discussions between the state agency managers and other key records management and preservation stakeholders such as the state records manager, state archivist, representatives from the state library, and members of the office of the state chief information office (CIO). The workshop was sponsored by both the State Archives and State Library and funded under a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant.

This workshop was brought about through CTG's partnership with the U.S. Library of Congress to develop strategies for preservation of significant state and local government information in digital form. This partnership involved, among other things, working with the leaders of federal agencies and professional organizations serving state librarians, archivists, and chief information officers (CIOs) to design and launch CTG's State Government Digital Information Preservation Survey in January 2006.

A mix of state libraries, archives, records management agencies, and CIOs from all 50 states and three territories responded to the survey. After analyzing the results, two resources were produced to support current and future state and national digital preservation efforts: Preserving State Government Digital Information: A Baseline Report and the Web-based State Government Digital Preservation Profiles.

This project helped raise awareness of digital preservation issues, created a new communication channel among states, and produced practical assessment tools to help states formulate successful digital management and preservation strategies.