One of our missions at Extract is to do our part to ensure that public records are easily available to constituents. We do this by partnering with counties as they’re digitizing their historical records, or processing new ones, to remove any personally identifiable information from the scanned images.
While the idea of putting documentation like land and court records online isn’t a novel one, it’s an arduous task that counties don’t always have the time or resources to undertake. To that end, there are still many counties where constituents need to physically show up to a records office to view a file.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the move to online digital records to some extent due to social distancing guidelines that made in-person visits much more difficult to navigate. To a much larger extent, the pace shifted through the allocation of federal funds. Both the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan Act provided funds that could be used to allow government offices to complete upgrades that would allow them to function as normal during tumultuous times.
Several of our customers have used these funds to complete scanning, indexing, and redaction projects to provide better access to their records.
Here are some of the counties that have recently made the switch to online records access:
First up is Delco County, Pennsylvania. Bob Auclair, Director of the county’s Recorder of Deeds Office announced in March that his office had digitized 240 years of land records, comprising of more than 35 million pages. As with many other counties that are digitizing, homeowners can receive alerts should anyone try to do something untoward with their property.
Also last month, Ulster County, New York completed a project to make all land record indexes available online. This project contained some of the oldest records seen in government offices, dating back to 1658. The clerks’ office in Ulster County noted the big advantage of having these records preserved digitally is that they’ll no longer have to endure the wear and tear they’ve experienced for centuries.
Another type of office that digitized their records in March was the Madison County, Illinois Circuit Clerk. A bit modest by the standards of the other projects, Madison County scanned nine million documents, completing the first phase of their project within a year. During the project, Circuit Clerk Tom McRae mentioned just how many interesting records can be uncovered throughout the process. He’s found things like historical envelopes and records that include renunciation of the Ottoman empire.
It's exciting to see county offices continue down this path of transparency and accessibility. There’s plenty to learn from the records, but it’s hard for that to happen without access to these files. For indexing projects or those that contain sensitive information, Extract offers automation software to ensure that what should be a time-saving proposition doesn’t become a burden.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help, please let us know, and we’d be thrilled to set up an introductory call or software demo.
About the Author: Chris Mack
Chris is a Marketing Manager at Extract with experience in product development, data analysis, and both traditional and digital marketing. Chris received his bachelor’s degree in English from Bucknell University and has an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. A passionate marketer, Chris strives to make complex ideas more accessible to those around him in a compelling way.