The Archives has limited space in its Rowe Boulevard facility to accept further permanent records for storage. The amount of records already on deposit has exhausted the stack space available. The Archives expects that state and local agencies will need to transfer 112,976 CSE of records to archival storage during the next 5 years. This figure represents more than 25% of the Archives' current stack area. The Archives is requesting funds to equip and staff leased space for the storage of records that it cannot accommodate in its present facility and to begin planning for the renovation of space in its present building or for a new facility adjacent to it for the preservation of electronic records.
The growth of the state's permanent records has exceeded projections made when the Archives planned for a new facility in 1981. At that time, it was forecast that the records that would require archival storage by the year 2000 would amount to 376,867 CSE. It was also expected that the archival collection of paper records was static. It was hoped that the advent of new record keeping technologies would eliminate the hard copy records used in the administration of government. Although there is some limited evidence that this will happen, the popular notion of the 'paperless office' touted since the introduction of microfilm in the 1960's is still far from reality. In fact, the state's collection of paper records has grown rather than diminished in the fifteen years since the Archives was planned for.
The storage space for archival collections that was expected to suffice until the year 2000 reached capacity in 1995. There are 391,416 CSE of permanent records at the Archives, 45,600 CSE at a facility it is administering for the Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund at Hammond's Ferry, and approximately 15,000 CSE at the Cheltenham Tobacco Warehouse. In all, the Archives is administering a collection of 452,016 CSE. While approximately two thirds of the MDIF materials and about half of what is stored at Cheltenham will be disposed of, the Archives has more records to care for than space to store them at the present time. Projections for future transfers indicate a substantial amount of material at agencies will require storage at the Archives during the next five years. This unanticipated growth in permanent paper records is the result of a variety of factors. These are:
1. The failure to integrate technological advances in record keeping systems with the archival issues of permanent retention. For example, the State Department of Assessments and Taxation has maintained assessment records on computer for many years but has not been able to generate a permanent record when the data had to be retired. The computer output microfilm created does not meet an archival standard for permanence. The Archives has resorted to storing the computer printouts created for the local offices to preserve this information. There are other instances in which the paper generated from the data has become the permanent record. The result has been an accumulation of material that was not projected for the Archives facility.
2. In response to budget restraints since 1990, many agencies have ceased filming permanent records. These are now being transferred to the Archives as paper files, a format that was unanticipated when the present facility was planned. This group of materials, 25,716 CSE, currently accounts for 6.5% of the stack space available at the Archives and is the equivalent of two years projected acccessions. Examples include records from the Worker's Compensation Commission Claims Files (4,251 CSE) and District Court Criminal Dockets, (13,571 CSE).
3. Substantial permanent record accumulations have also resulted from events that could not have been foreseen. The savings and loan crisis created a significant collection of records, 12,000 CSE is the current estimate, that must, by court order, be preserved. Additional materials related to this activity, 1,032 CSE, have been received from the Attorney General. In all, there are 31,386 CSE of permanent records now in the custody of the Archives that were not anticipated when the facility was planned in 1981. This amount of record material is equivalent to more than two and a half years worth of projected accessions.
4. The growth in the amount of record material has far exceeded projections. Based on the Archives' experience between 1975 and 1980, it expected that annual transfers of permanent record material would amount to 12,000 CSE. Even without the accessions of the 57,102 CSE discussed above that were unanticipated, record material arrived at the Archives at an annual rate of 16,929 CSE during the ten years from FY 86 through FY 95, about a third more than had been expected. Since opening the new facility in 1986, the Archives has received 226,401 CSE.
The result of these events is an archival facility that has reached capacity 5 years earlier than anticipated.
Based on the the most recent Five Year State Records Inventory prepared by the Records Management Division of the Department of General Services in 1990, there were 864,720 CSE of permanent records in the custody of various agencies. Executive agencies accounted for 402,888 CSE and records in the custody of the judiciary were 442,334 CSE. The Archives received 120,704 CSE from these agencies in the intervening five years, an accretion of 14% of the total records in agency custody reported in 1990.
The growth of the holdings at the Archives will be expected to administer based on this rate of transfer during the next five years would be at least 104,893 CSE or 20,978 per annum. Based on transfers of the five years, which averaged 24,141 CSE per annum, the upper limit for projections should be 120,700 CSE. The average of these two projections, 112,796 CSE represents the Archives' best estimate of the demand for archival storage space.
The Archives is currently administering a 10,200 sf facility at Hammond's Ferry in conjunction with the Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund. The Fund currently has 45,600 CSE of records at this facility and the Archives has moved almost 9,600 CSE of records which are infrequently circulated from Annapolis to Hammond's Ferry in an effort to accommodate pending transfers.
This space will be sufficient, if properly equipped and staffed, to receive the 112,976 CSE of record material the Archives expects to receive during the next five years, in addition to the record material already on hand at the facility.
The leased space amounts to 10,200 sf. The loading area, office space and utilities account for 1,200 sf which leaves a balance of 9,000 sf for shelving.
Wooden platforms 4' x 8' erected 4' off the floor were installed by the Fund for the records they have taken on. The Archives has already displaced 1,890 sq. ft. of this shelving with 90 sections of metal shelving transferred from its Cheltenham warehouse. This will be adequate for storage needs during FY 97. The Archives will be requesting funds in FY 98 for additional shelving and equipment.
Lease and Overhead Costs
The lease cost for this space in FY 97 will be $43,350 or $4.25 per square foot with utilities and operating expenses of $7,064. Costs for FY 97 are $50,414.
Planning
The Governor has asked the Archives to work with the Office of Information Technology and the Department of General Services to develop a long term strategy for the care of the archival collection. This extends not only to the paper archives but the growing archive of electronic information state agencies are accumulating.