On February 5, 2008, Therese Brown, Clerk of the Allen Circuit Court and Chairperson of the imaging subcommittee of the Indiana Supreme Court Records Management Committee, convened a meeting of the subcommittee in Indianapolis to discuss the development of a general standardized certification process for courts and clerks wishing to use imaging technology to maintain court records.
Administrative Rule 6 requires all courts in Indiana to comply with the standards set forth in the rule if they wish to employ digital imaging technology to store and preserve records of courts and court agencies. Before a court, clerk or court agency installs a digital imagining system, the Division of State Court Administration must approve the system’s specifications. The approval of the imaging systems is of vital importance because it must assure that the images of important court records are not only accurate but also appropriately authenticated.
The discussion by Ms. Brown and fellow subcommittee members John Newman, Director of Information Management of the Division of State Court Administration, Jacqueline Rowan, Clerk of the DeKalb Circuit Court, and James R. Walker, Director of Trial Court Management of the Division of State Court Administration, centered on a draft of a manual that had been developed by the Records Management Committee of the Association of Clerks of the Circuit Courts of Indiana to assist clerks in implementing digital imaging systems.
James Corridan, Indiana State Archivist and the Director of the Indiana Commission on Public Records, who had been asked to serve as a consultant to the subcommittee, and David Griffith, Staff Attorney for the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC), as well as Tom Jones of the Division of State Court Administration also participated in the discussions.
The members agreed that the subcommittee will present a revised and updated version of the draft manual of the Clerk’s Association to the Indiana Supreme Court Records Management Committee at its meeting this Spring. Questions about this project may be directed to John Newman at [email protected] or Tom Jones at [email protected].