32 TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT

the Public Records Examiner to participate in its deliberations. The
objectives of the group are to evaluate the records, record forms, record
procedures and tabulations used in each program of the Department and
to determine whether those now used are really needed and are adequate
or whether a more effective data system should be developed which will
enable the functions of the individual programs to be carried on more
efficiently. As much as two years may be needed before the review group
has sufficient information on the many programs directed by the Depart-
ment to report on its finding, but this will be more than justified if the
results hoped for are forthcoming.

Near the end of the year the State Roads Commission asked us to
review the recordkeeping practices of its many divisions with the view
of establishing a central filing system for certain records. Although
records schedules were prepared for all the records of the Commission
in 1955, its offices then were located in six separate buildings. In 1958
the Commission moved into a new building with adequate space for all
of its employees and many records which were formerly needed for the
efficient operation of its widely dispersed personnel are no longer
needed. The Commission also has undergone considerable reorganiza-
tion since the schedules were established and a number of new pro-
grams have been initiated with the increased federal aid now received.
Thus the schedules need to be reviewed and additional ones issued to
meet the requirements of the agency.

Some attention was devoted to putting the remaining records of
State agencies under schedule. Control over the disposition of 156 rec-
ord series was established by the twenty-five schedules which were
prepared. In addition, a number of schedules which were issued before
the Record Centers became available, were revised to provide for the
storage of the records they control at the Centers.

We again continued our efforts to reduce the quantity of non-
currcnt records retained in the offices and storage areas of State agencies
in order to lower the cost of maintaining these records and to establish
more effective control over them. In the course of the year 2,883 cubic
feet of records from twenty-seven agencies were accepted for deposit
in the Record Centers in Annapolis and Baltimore. This brought the
total quantity of records in the two Centers at the end of the fiscal year
to 7,040 cubic feet.