Tim Barnard asked " ... how does one start a [records management] program from scratch?"

Tim, check out the Web site of the New York State Archives, which has a series of publications for exactly this situation.
The URL is http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/records/index.shtml

You might also want to consider the financing side. The State of New York set up a records management grants program to help local governments start up; see the URL http://www.archives.nysed.gov/a/grants/index.shtml. This program has been emulated by other states--see the New Jersey Archives "Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (PARIS) Grants" at the URL http://www.state.nj.us/state/darm/links/sitemap.html#PARIS.

ARMA's Annual Conference usually has a session or two on RM program start up "tips and techniques", so you may be able to justify going to this year's conference on that basis.

I suggest you contact the nearest ARMA Chapter, as you can usually find someone--or several someones--who can help, mentor, advise, etc. I could not find an ARMA Chapter in your state, but here's a listing of nearby Chapters from http://www.arma.org/about/chapters/index.cfm:

Birmingham Chapter 
P: (205) 328-3282
E: [log in to unmask]
W: http://www.bhamarma.org
Primary Contact: John Powers
Records Management
3000 2nd Avenue South
Birmingham, AL
35233-3002

Central Arkansas-Little Rock Chapter 
P: 5015255752
F: (870) 238-4141
E: [log in to unmask]
W: http://www.shreve.net/arma/calr/
Primary Contact: David Reagler
160 Temperance Hill Road
Hot Springs, AR
71913

Central Arkansas-Little Rock Chapter 
P: 5015255752
F: (870) 238-4141
E: [log in to unmask]
W: http://www.shreve.net/arma/calr/
Primary Contact: David Reagler
160 Temperance Hill Road
Hot Springs, AR
71913

Greater New Orleans Chapter 
P: (504) 582-1142
F: (504) 582-1172
E: [log in to unmask]
W: http://www.gnoarma.org  
Primary Contact: David Honeman
One Shell Square 701 Poydras Street, Suite 3800
New Orleans, LA
70139-3800

Baton Rouge/Lafayette Chapter 
P: (225) 379-1619
F: (225) 379-1850
E: [log in to unmask]
W: http://www.armabrlaf.org  
Primary Contact: Sarah Collins
Information Technology
PO Box 94245
Baton Rouge, LA
70804-9245


Very best of luck!

Fred
===================================================================
Frederic J. Grevin
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Information Officer
The City of New York,
Department of Records
Email: [log in to unmask]
Land phone: 212.788.8615
Cell phone: 347.436.5360
Fax:  212.788.8614
www.nyc.gov/records
31 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007
USA

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