Library expansion could aid records storage

Email To A Friend
Printer Friendly
Comments

---

The proposed $11 million expansion of the state library could ease problems related to storing records from county courthouses across the state, an official says.

Barbara Teague said the project has been a priority since the 1980s but never funded by the legislature. It would add 100,000 cubic feet of storage space for archives from the courts and other state agencies.

"Now we are at the point where we're out of space," said Teague, archivist and records administrator for the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives
Currently, 34,000 cubic feet of court files are stored at an annual cost of $155,000 the KDLA facility on Coffee Tree Road. KDLA also receives files from other state agencies.

The library expansion project would include climate and humidity controlled storage, but Teague said the price will inevitably increase as delays continue.

Creating additional storage space would also allow all the records to be kept in a centralized location.

"Right now, the records are dispersed throughout courthouses and state agencies across the state," Teague said.

Maintaining the court records, which include civil, criminal and family court cases, provides important genealogical and historic information, she said.

"They show us how people lived," Teague said. "It's a wealth of information."

Another important aspect is revising the records retention schedule said Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Wine.

Wine is chair of a committee created by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Minton that met Wednesday to address the issue of records retention.

The Court Records Retention Committee includes representatives from the public defenders office, prosecutors, KDLA and the Administrative Office of the Courts.

"I think it's a good idea for the chief justice to open this process up," Wine said. "Normally it's done through the administrative bureaucracy, but this will allow input from the users of records. That ensures a more user-friendly system."

The main problem is that the records retention schedule was suspended in 2007 because critical files were destroyed in Jefferson County, Wine said.

"It's piling up in boxes," he said. "We are trying to clean out the attic and
basement."

The Court Records Retention Committee will examine the various elements of the records retention schedule and make recommendations to reduce costs while retaining crucial information. Some records must be retained permanently, such as felony criminal cases and family court issues.

Some members of the committee suggested that some subpoenas, continuances or summons could be shredded after five years. Other ideas include scanning files and storing them in a digital format, but Woodford County Circuit Clerk Tricia Kittinger said the process would be expensive and time-consuming.

Retired Franklin Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden is a member of the committee and said the issue of what records to retain and for how long is an important issue. He also said the KDLA expansion is a priority.

"They need the facilities no matter what happens," Crittenden said.