ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 51

Another phase of records management which is of value to other State
agencies in reducing the bulk of their records is the substitution of microfilm
copies for the originals. During much of the year we were unable to take full
advantage of the economies which this application of microphotography can
make available because of the effects of an opinion of the Attorney General
which prevented the destruction of certain types of records, even though a
microfilm copy had been prepared for permanent preservation. However,
Chapter 82 of the Acts of 1956 removed this impediment in June. A total of
818,255 exposures were made of records for eight agencies. These exposures
are contained on 284 rolls of 16mm and 11 rolls of 35mm microfilm.

While the other activities of the Division's microfilm staff are presented
in this section of the Report of the Archivist, some of the accomplishments
listed were the results of a cooperative effort. Again this year, the Commis-
sioner of the Land Office was provided with microfilm copies of the currently
recorded county land records and the State Tax Commission, with copies of
current deeds for its tax map program. Our personnel continued to film these
records in seven counties. In the remaining sixteen counties which either pre-
pare their own microfilm copies or use the projection print recording program
carried on through Hall and McChesney, they supervised this work and in-
spected the completed film. In addition, the staff cooperated in the Hall of
Record's long-term program of providing insurance copies of all major county
record series, both by filming a number of these series and inspecting the
microfilm copies of others prepared for us by the counties. In the course of the
year, a total of 107,456 exposures of county records were made by Division
personnel and an additional 408,325 exposures were received and inspected.

Although the major effort of our campaign for better records manage-
ment practices was directed toward the control of records after they were cre-
ated, some attention was given to the problems of reducing the quantity of
records made as well as improving their usefulness. No broad-scale program to
control the creation of records has been developed, but in the work incident to
establishing retention and disposal schedules some progress was made in these
areas. As our program expands, paperwork management will, of course, play
an increasingly important role; but here it might not be amiss to call attention
to a few examples of the work which has already been accomplished in this
field. A reduction of almost seventy per cent was made in the size of the
printed copies of the executed contracts of the State Roads Commission by
eliminating from them the standard specifications which may be secured as
a separate document, if needed. We also are cooperating with the Department
of Health in an effort to prevent the unnecessary duplication of information