42 TWENTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT

RECORDS MANAGEMENT DIVISION

During the period under review, the Records Management staff
devoted more time than in the past to records problems and space re-
quirements of the Clerks of Court and Registers of Wills in the coun-
ties and in Baltimore City.

Many of these problems were caused by the rapid growth of the
records of these offices and by the legal prohibition against destruction
of any but the "housekeeping records" or records of internal manage-
ment, thus placing a premium on space in the courthouses. Others re-
sulted from legislation enacted by the General Assembly or from
efforts to meet the increasing demands of the public for improved
services.

The following is an account of our action on a few of the many
requests for assistance which we received from the counties and Balti-
more City.

At the request of the Courthouse Committee of Baltimore City,
composed of three judges of the Supreme Bench, we made a survey of
the records and the space assigned to the several courts and related de-
partments in the courthouse. The general purpose of the survey was
to determine whether space might be found for additional courtrooms
and offices. It was estimated that four additional courtrooms would be
required by 1970, while more office space was already badly needed by
the Probation and Domestic Relations Divisions of the Supreme Bench
and by the Juvenile Division of the Circuit Court. More specifically, the
objective of the survey was to provide information on the following:

1. Records which might be destroyed under existing laws.

2. Space which might be made available if records more than twenty-
five years old were destroyed, microfilmed, or transferred to a rec-
ords depository elsewhere.

3. Records which might be adapted to a microfilm system of recording.

4. Re-assignment of space in the courthouse which might provide the
courtrooms and offices needed.

The survey was initiated in November, 1963, and a study made
of each court and department. The records were inventoried, records
schedules prepared, and the space occupied by the personnel and the
records of each court or department determined. We also met with the