Testimony presented before 
the Subcommittee on 
Public Safety, Transportation, Economic Development, and Natural Resources
Budget and Taxation Committee
Maryland Senate

February 2, 1998

Good afternoon. I am the State Archivist, Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse. I am joined today by the Deputy State Archivist, Chris Allan.

At the outset, let me take this opportunity to thank our legislative analyst for his thorough and effective summary and analysis of the Archives program.  It permits us to move directly to the concerns he has raised about our FY 1999 request, with only one slight detour to statistics on public use of the Archives.  I thought the Committee might be interested in how our services on-line through the World Wide Web, have captured the public's interest.
 
 

As you can see, the Senate was popular in January, but an exhibit for our Museum without Walls, which we mounted over a year ago in conjunction with the publication of our comprehensive Guide to Maryland Newspapers proved even more so.  Although I could not bring the Web with me this afternoon, I did bring the original newspapers for you to see.

But enough of statistics and the impact of popular movies on our reference services.  Let me now to turn to those aspects of the budget to which your attention has been drawn by the legislative analyst.

The Archives' budget request for Fiscal Year 1999 provides funds for two important publications, for preserving and making accessible the electronic record, for additional space for records that cannot be accommodated in our present facilities, for planning improved facilities to preserve the modern records of government, and for replacing an antiquated telephone system.

The requested appropriation for our baseline operations and the initiatives we have presented amounts to almost $3.3 million. As in previous years, almost 40% of the request is in the form of earned income: $.92 million, with a general fund appropriation of approximately 60%, or $2.4 million.

The Archives budget request for FY 1999 is $3,299,000. The FY 1998 appropriation for the Archives is $2,368,000. The difference of $931,000 between these two fiscal years is attributable to a request for ongoing expenses for the baseline activities of the Archives, $207,000, and a request for $724,000 for initiatives that have been proposed. Of the total increase requested , the Archives expects to earn $222,578, or 24%, placing the net General Fund increase request at $708,018.
 
 
 

Maryland Manual

During FY 1997, the Archives published a traditional, legally mandated hard- and soft-bound book, the Maryland Manual, 1996-1997. At the same time, the Archives also began to prepare, update, maintain, and manage the Maryland Manual On-Line on the World Wide Web. In the process, we expanded the breadth and content of of the electronic Manual in many ways, including expanded municipal coverage.

In all this time, the Manual has been produced through the efforts of one senior archivist designated as the editor. Our request for FY 1999 includes funds for the contractual help necessary to maintain the Manual On-Line and to publish the archival historical record in traditional book form as required by law. The legislative analyst's recommendation to eliminate one contractual FTE would severely affect our ability to gather the information for the electronic version and would serverely curtail editorial work on the traditional book edition. The loss of funds for publication would prevent the Archives altogether from making the Manual available in traditional form as required by law and for permanent historical record purposes.  Someday, when everyone has access to the electronic archive that we must create, we will be able to follow the analyst's recommendation and discontinue the printed book. We ask that the Governor's recommendation be appropriated for this work.

Electronic Archives

By the end of FY 2000, the Archives anticipates that government agencies in Maryland will acquire 1.458 terabytes of permanently valuable digital information. None of this data will be available in paper for permanent retention. All will have to be maintained in electronic form. This accumulation of electronic records will require effective preservation and management to ensure future access.

The Comptroller and the Archives advocate creating a program in FY 1999 to begin preserving these records. The program will initiate two important projects that will demonstrate the practical application of an electronic archive to preserve and disseminate digital information:

Register of Wills Project

The first project involves the permanent electronic retention of the records now being created by the Registers of Wills who have adopted an electronic document management system for the recording of probate records.

On-Line Storage Project

The second project will place files created by the Archives on-line in a permanently secure storage environment. These two projects will encompass management of at least 205Gb of data by the end of the fiscal year.

On-line access to the Constitutional, Legal, Legislative and Administrative basis of Maryland government.

With a one-time, two-year,  $707,000 grant from the Information Technology Fund, the Archives proposes creating  an on-line resource for legal and historical research that encompasses the session laws, proceedings of the Senate  and House of Delegates, proceedings of  all Constitutional Conventions, all historical editions of the Annotated Code, and  all reported court decisions as they relate to constitutional issues. This on-line archive of public records will be formed from scanned images of the published records. These scanned images will then be converted to ASCII files through optical character recognition programs to facilitate full text indexing and searching by means of the State Archives Web server currently being used to search the Archives web site. Users will be able to inquire of the system, find links to references, access the desired information, and view original images to verify the authenticity of the data over the internet and locally through the State's Archival Information System on the State Intranet.

Such a resource is greatly needed by government, the legal community, and our citizens who seek to understand the development of Maryland's Constitution and Maryland law. By accessing this information on-line at the State Archives, Web site users will be able to research quickly and easily such topics as:  legislative intent, legal precedents, the full text of any law, and the particulars of any constitutional issue as it was written into law by successive Maryland Constitutions from 1776 onward. By undertaking this project, the State Archives also will preserve in electronic form, records that currently exist only on rapidly deteriorating paper scattered among a number of repositories, and which  will not be available at all to future generations unless we act quickly to save them.

Building Maryland: A History of Public Structures and Public Servants, 1634-2000

From Private Mansion to Public Residence: The Official Homes of the First Ladies and Hostesses of Maryland, 1753-1999

This publication, which examines the lives and work of Maryland's first ladies and official hostesses in the context of the governors' residences in Annapolis, is a singular effort to more fully explain the governing of Maryland. Scant attention has been paid to the social and political role played by women in the government of Maryland. This work provides a new and significant insight into the history of Maryland and its government.

Maryland's State House, 1773-2000

The second publication will be a history of the State House to be issued in the year 2000. Work is  underway to substantially revise the late Dr. Morris L. Radoff's State House in Annapolis, published in 1972. A wealth of new evidence found in manuscript materials, uncovered during restoration activities, and in the course of anticipated archaeological investigations will form the basis of a new interpretation of the design and management of the State House since 1773.

Adjunct Archival Facilities

The Archives also is requesting funds to enhance the usefulness of existing facilities, and acquire additional space to cope with the demand for storage of permanent records.
 

1. The Archives' plan to maximize the use of limited space available to house paper records includes the transfer to an adjunct archival facility of 20,000 cubic feet of unprocessed materials already in its present building, freeing up prime archival storage space for the storage of the most valuable permanent paper records and providing storage space for electronic records.
2. The figures for  permanent records the Archives expects to receive from state agencies are derived from the returns prepared by the individual agencies as part of the statewide records inventory undertaken by the Department of General Services every five years, and the historical rate of acquisition from these agencies at the Archives.

Planning for the Archives of the 21st Century

Telecommunications

Shortly after moving to its new facility in 1986, the Archives obtained a surplus ATT Horizon switch from the Department of General Services . This analog device now is over 25 years old. The continued availability of parts is questionable. Features considered routine at many state offices such as voice mail, conference calling, call forwarding, employee extension directories, and direct access to employee workstations are not functions provided by present equipment. There are no system utilities to monitor phone use (or abuse) by extension and time of day. A new system is a prudent investment in the work of the Archives.

In conclusion, permit me to return to the overall, two-fold mission of the Archives:

     1) to identify, describe, appraise, preserve, and make readily accessible governmental and related records of permanent administrative, legal, historical and educational value, and

     2) to provide in the most economical and expeditious manner continuously updated and reliable information about Maryland State, county and municipal government.

If we properly preserve and make accessible the most important records of government, we can build on past accomplishments and avoid repeating the mistakes of those who have governed before us. To pursue that vision in today's electronic world is a particularly daunting task. Paper as a medium for records can withstand considerable abuse and neglect before disappearing, but the electronic record is so fragile and unstable that very shortly, we will know more about the 1690s than the 1990s. Before it is too late, we must insist that the electronic record be appraised and preserved in readily available, yet lasting form. To do so will require a capital commitment for housing and translating the electronic record into a more permanent medium, as well as operating funds and new laws to enforce standards for generic recordation, freeing the user from the horrors of proprietary equipment and software no longer made or maintained. To sustain a clear vision for the future, we must sustain a clear and readily accessible record of government's accomplishments and failures. Invest now and there will be a future of choice. Invest too little, or not at all, and there will be no archival record to help us choose.
 

Thank you.

©Maryland State Archives
February 2, 1998