Kentucky State Archives Preserves Records With Reduced $ and Personnel

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Anyone who frets over organizing family records ought to consider the daily challenge facing Barbara Teague and her staff.

As Kentucky’s state archivist, Teague oversees 310,000 cubic feet of records stored in the Public Records Division of the State Department of Libraries and Archives — documenting the official history of Kentucky.

Also under her care are about 220,000 rolls of microfilm and more data stored electronically than — were it on paper — could fit into an average Kentucky county library.

“We have one of the largest physical holdings of any state archives in the country,” Teague said. “We care for records. That’s 100 percent of our job — caring for records and being able to retrieve any one of them when it is needed.”

And like other agencies, the department has felt the impact of the tight state budget.

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Hours that the public can visit the archives’ research room on weekdays have been reduced to 10 a.m.-4 p.m., from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Public Records Division’s staff also has been cut to 45 from 58 three years ago. But Teague said the remaining employees have taken on other duties to avoid further service reductions.

Read the full article in the December 26, 2010 edition of the Courier-Journal.