Most vegetable seeds must be well-dried before storage, and kept that way. Many flowers & herbs, on the other hand, require stratification (extended cold treatment) before they will germinate.

Note that the procedures used for long-term seed storage, and those for treating seed to be planted next season, may differ. You could conceivably be using more than one method at once for the same seeds.

Some seed catalogs, particularly those that deal with herbs & exotics (such as J. L. Hudson) list the special germination requirements for their seed.