service, including COM. With the exception of our COM service, all of
these services are supported by a budget appropriation to the Hall of
Records from the general funds of the State.

The Records Management Program is based on the establishment
of realistic records schedules in which we identify and describe the
records of individual State, county or municipal agencies. These
schedules provide for the retention of those records judged worthy
of preservation, authorization for the immediate destruction of
obsolete records, and continuing authority for the disposal, microfilming
and transfer to the centers or the archives as appropriate.

The major objective of our records center in Annapolis and
Baltimore is the prompt and orderly transfer of semi-active records from
prime office to low cost storage areas. The centers release both space
and equipment to more productive use and facilitate the eventual
disposition of the inactive records.

In June 1971, we were assigned the space formerly occupied
by the Board of Motion Picture Censors in the Baltimore State Office
Building, providing much needed office space and an additional storage
area. Since the storage area of this space will allow us to utilize
shelving fourteen feet high, it will enable us to reduce the cost of
housing semi-current records. However, additional records center space
is needed if we are to cope with the ever increasing volume of records
effectively.

We provide a consulting and advisory service to State, county
and municipal agencies concerning space, records plans, problems and
equipment. We initiate some studies, but more frequently participate
in studies made with agency personnel or outside consultants.

The records retention and disposition schedules, records
centers, and consulting service control to a large degree the great
bulk of records that are now generated in the day-to-day operations of
the State government. Their combined impact on records processed
exceeds that of microfilm many times over. We have found that it is
simply more economical in most cases to use the traditional records
management tools in performing our assigned function. However, we
have not neglected to use microfilm when appropriate.