The Starke County Recorder’s Office will use funds from user fees to make more records available online. Territory manager Greg Bachman with vendor Fidlar Technologies says a portion of records back to 1983 will be digitized. Recorder Lisa Minix eventually wants to go back farther, but opted for 1983 because title searchers often need access to records going back that far.
The current search process requires a trip to the recorder’s office to look up information in a book and retrieve it from microfilm. Offering the records online will simplify that process and provide a backup should anything happen to the record books or microfilm. Additionally the recorder’s office makes money through the vendor’s public search program from things like subscription and copy fees.
Before the records are published online they will be run through an automated redaction process to remove Social Security numbers. The recorder’s office will also have the ability to redact that information manually. The entire digitation process will cost the county $38,000. Funds will come from the recorder’s redaction and perpetual funds. The microfilms will also be placed into new jackets to ensure safe preservation. The recorder’s office will get a digital backup copy of the records as well.
