ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 53

With the increase in the volume of records housed in the Centers,
additional time was required to service them properly. The service
performed by our Center personnel includes shelving the records, main-
taining the necessary control forms, providing reference to the records,
microfilming records to be preserved on film, and supervising their
destruction. During the 1961 fiscal year, 1,163 requests were received
for record units or information from records in the two Centers. As
the holdings in these depositories increase, the number of reference
requests will also increase.

Reduction in the bulk of records through the substitution of micro-
film copies remains an integral part of our records program. Microfilm-
ing is usually employed when the original would otherwise he retained
indefinitely or when a security copy is considered necessary. This year
1,150,495 images were exposed for ten State agencies, a considerable
drop from the production of last year. This was occasioned partly be-
cause it was impossible to use the automatic feeder on most projects
undertaken and partly because we microfilmed the Proceedings of the
General Assembly of Maryland after each legislative day of its ninety
day session, in order to provide insurance against loss or error by the
printer or in transit. The records microfilmed and retired, as well as
those destroyed without filming, from the Record Centers and from
State agencies amounted to 7,354 cubic feet. As in the past, we have
continued to dispose of these unneeded records to various waste paper
companies on a contractual basis. This year the State derived $2,654.75
from this source, of which $2,147.55 was returned to the general funds
of the State. The remainder went to the Department of Employment
Security which operates entirely on federal funds.

We have continued to work closely with the Department of Budget
and Procurement on requests from State agencies for the purchase or
rental of record equipment and services. These cooperative efforts have
resulted in considerable savings to the State: first, by insuring that as
records are moved out of expensive space and filing equipment into the
Centers or are destroyed, the equipment released is utilized before new
equipment is purchased; and second, by determining that the equipment
or the service requested is appropriate for the purpose intended.

That the impact of our records management program for State and
local agencies of government has not been confined entirely to Mary-