Municipal governments continue document scanning efforts

Many cities and towns across the U.S. have been conducting the business of local governance for centuries, and over that time they have likely accumulated massive amounts of important documents that need to be stored and preserved. However, that process is often easier said than done, especially for those with particularly old, potentially valuable and fragile documents.

Backfile scanning is a vital step for many city governments – and an ever-growing number of those organizations seem to recognize its importance, according to the Glens Falls Post Star. In terms of cutting their document storage costs, freeing up space, and increasing the efficiency of overall document management and handling, Washington County, New York is now moving toward a comprehensive document scanning effort to ease its current issues.

What's being done?
Washington County recognizes this is going to be a years-long process, simply because of how many records it has to scan into the system, the report said. Many original documents – dating back decades – will be preserved after being scanned, but most will be uploaded to the county's document management system and then disposed.

"Everybody's busting at the seams with paper," county treasurer Al Nolette told the newspaper. "We have to keep the documents – most of them for six years, but capital projects for 99 years after the close of the project and payroll forever, literally forever."

Following best practices
When municipal governments are taking all reasonable steps to ensure they are following industry-recommended best practices and carefully evaluating their options when it comes to backfile scanning, they are far more likely to have success in the process, according to Talking PDF. Considering everything from what types of documents are being scanned to what kinds of file types they will be saved as is vital to getting the effort right.