ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 43

County are being made, and the program should be in operation during
the coming year.

Another records problem of the Clerks of Court which received
our attention was the maintenance of adequate, up-to-date indexes for
their records. It is imperative, of course, that indexes for such records
as the land records be kept as current as possible. It is also desirable
that the reference needed be located easily and quickly. In an effort to
provide the searcher with the latest information, some Clerks maintain
daily index sheets in handwritten form. Entries are made immediately
after a document is recorded and later typed on the appropriate page
in the permanent index. Other Clerks follow the practice of removing
the index sheet from the permanent binder, typing the entry on it,
and then reinserting the sheet in the index volume. Both methods are
time-consuming and make keeping an index current a difficult task.
In addition, the public demand for improved service has often resulted
in expensive re-indexing projects. Searchers not only expect but often
demand that the time needed to search indexes be kept to a minimum.

In order to ease the task of keeping indexes current and to
eliminate expensive re-indexing, we recommended to the Comptroller
that the Clerks of Court be permitted to contract for data-processed
indexing service. Since all the Clerks, with one exception, wished to
continue using their present Cott indexes, and because the service
offered by the Cott Company was less expensive than that of its com-
petitors, we recommended use of the Cott data-processed indexing
service. The Comptroller approved this, with the proviso that each
Clerk must ask for specific approval before contracting for the service.

How is data-processed indexing done? When instruments are
received, index information is typed on daily index forms. The pressure-
sensitive, self-adhesive strips of the original become the Clerk's typed
index entry. The typed entries are compared with the instruments, then
the perforated entry strips are separated, sorted alphabetically, the
safety backing removed, and the strip pressed onto the proper index
page. A carbon copy of the daily index form is retained by the Clerk
and another mailed to the Cott Company. Cott makes punched cards
from the daily index forms received, files the cards in security storage
drawers according to the alphabetical subdivision of the Clerk's system,
and refiles the cards during the year, if necessary, to create new set-out
names. Cott also produces a magnetic tape which is stored for security