46 TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT

inquiry indicated that users, too, had only a vague idea of what
they wanted, except that some method should be devised to per-
mit the answering of all questions fully, definitely, and quickly.
With the thought in mind that it is time to state our position
quite clearly (1) so that the members of the Hall of Records
Commission might offer criticism of present practices and sug-
gestions for improvement and (2) so that directors of other
depositories might have something in print to guide them in
pursuing this problem, whether they find our practices desirable
or not, the writer decided to include in this Annual Report a
statement of the problem and an account of what we have done
so far to meet it.

In the first place, we have long since found it necessary to
divide the users of our records into two main categories: agen-
cies of Maryland government, statewide and local, and indivi-
duals. For the users of the first category we are willing to
exhaust every potential of mechanical finding aids, of staff
knowledge and time. Our reason for this is that undoubtedly
the government should come first because its interests are those
of all of the people of the State, or all of the people of one of its
subdivisions, while the interest of the individual is that only of
himself, of his client, or of his group. Moreover, since the Hall
of Records is a part of the government which does not govern
or regulate any part of the life of the people, its function must
be that of an agency which assists those other parts of the gov-
ernment whose business is to govern or regulate. In so far as
Maryland is concerned, our obligations to the other agencies of
government are especially binding because the State does not
support an Historical Commission, a Publicity Commission, or
any other clearing house for information relating to the gov-
ernment, the history, the description, or the resources of the State.
All of these functions, as well as those of Public Record Exami-
ner and custodian of non-current records, have therefore fallen
to the Hall of Records. In my tenth annual report I pointed
out that the Hall of Records was not intended to play so diverse
a role, nor is it equipped to do so, but that so long as the State