48 THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT

The application of the schedules established this year and in the
past resulted in the release of 14,042 cubic feet of filing and storage
in the offices of State, county and municipal agencies. As in the past,
we continued to dispose of records authorized for destruction by sale
to waste paper companies on a contractual basis. The contract is awarded
for a six-month period to the highest bidder, with an option to extend
it for six months more if both the State and the company agree. IBM
cards are classified according to color, and paper by the percentage of
bond content. The contract also contains a proviso requiring the shred-
ding of records when requested. Unfortunately the company under
contract this year suffered a disastrous fire in May, 1966. However, it
was able to continue in business in another location and, with records
we supplied, made good on its contract with the State. In fiscal year
1966, the State derived $5,052.21 from this source. Of this $3,080.36
was returned to the general funds of the State, while the remainder
went to the Department of Employment Security, which operates
entirely on federal funds.

We again continued our efforts to reduce the quantity of non-
current records retained in the offices of State agencies, in order to
reduce the cost of maintaining these records and to establish more
effective control over them. Under the authority contained in the
records retention and disposition schedules, 3,542 cubic feet of records
were transferred to the Record Center in Annapolis or the one in
Baltimore. Although records are not accepted for deposit in the Centers
unless they have been scheduled, the ever increasing volume of records
being transferred is rapidly filling the Centers to capacity. Plans for
another State Office Building in Baltimore, in which we have requested
12,000 square feet for a third record center, are under way, but com-
pletion of the building is not expected before 1970. In the meantime,
we are trying to cope with the problem by rearranging and adding
shelving to increase the capacity of the existing centers and by reviewing
the schedules in the hope of reducing the retention period of many
record series.

With the Records Centers nearly filled to capacity, additional time
is required to service them properly. Center personnel assist agencies
with the transfer of records, shelve the records in the Centers, maintain
the necessary control forms, provide reference to the records, microfilm
those to be preserved on film, and supervise the destruction of records
from the Centers. Some indication of the quality of the service furnished