Today, it’s not a matter of choice to go digital. It is a necessity. This is especially in the case court records, as they possess exceptional evidential, informational, and intrinsic value. Court Record Digitization helps protect and preserve records from excessive handling and also makes them available for official and public use.
According to a recent report in Columbus Dispatch, a digitization or imaging project has begun in the Washington County Courthouse in Marietta, Ohio. Mormon volunteers are helping in the indexing of court records that date back to 1788. Following this, FamilySearch which is the genealogical arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, will then photograph/scan the records, digitize them, and put them online.
The documents, available in the form of books or paper packets include the following.
- Accounts of coroner inquests
- Imaging of Burial documents for Civil War soldiers
- Quadrennial-enumeration books that contain the census of township residents
There are many advantages to digitizing these records.
- Does away with the cumbersome, paper-based model
- Enables electronic filing of court materials for better access and retrieval
- Allows web-based access to court documents
- Provides an advanced, efficient document management system
- Helps avoids delays both within the courtroom and for members of the public seeking access to materials
- Saves time and resources that goes into managing a paper-based system
- Creates a seamless electronic network for case management, court scheduling and document filing
Digitization of documents is a process that must be carefully managed. More and more organizations looking to attain work flow efficiency are involved in similar digitization drives. As managing the task in-house can prove expensive and resource-consuming, businesses are looking for outside help to handle their document digitization projects.
