Licking County Records & Archives Blog

We would like to recognize our volunteer Neil Phelps for his excellent work.  Neil has been a dedicated volunteer with the Records & Archives Department since October 2010.  Under the supervision of Records Clerk Bill Markley, Neil has recently helped in salvaging several boxes of records from the Historic Licking County Jail on 3rd Street in Newark.  During the past few decades, records of various county agencies were stored in that building.  Those records are now being inventoried, re-boxed and moved to the Records & Archives Department facility, which provides better conditions for storage and access.  In addition to this large project, Neil has also cleaned the pages of 19th and early-20th century Jail Registers, which are volumes that provide information about the inmates.  Cleaning old records such as these helps preserve them for future use. Neil is also currently working on a history of the Historic Licking County Jail as a personal p...

Our department is pleased to announce the recent posting of the County Infirmary Cemetery Index and History on our website at http://www.lcounty.com/records/frmInfirmary.aspx .  Over the past six months, we had learned the community was very interested in burials located at the county's infirmary cemetery at Infirmary Mound Park in Granville Township.  A few indexes were created since the 1970's, but did not detail death dates, causes of death, or marker identifiers.  Research of infirmary records by department volunteer and cemetery researcher, Robert Sizelove, resulted in the discovery of more internments than previously thought.  Also, a detailed history of the infirmary was created for the first time by Records Clerk, Bill Markley.  Bill started his employment with us in April of this year.  He has brought over twenty years  of previous experience in reference librarianship with almost ten years in archival reference to Licking Cou...

In addition to being asked why records are required to be maintained by Ohio Law, our department is commonly asked how records management saves money.  Many people believe records management is cumbersome and not worth the effort.  Surprisingly, if records management is actively practiced, departments will reap the rewards.   Below are ways records management save money: 1.  Saves valuable staff time retrieving and filing records. Last year, our department conducted a records survey and learned employees spend between 15-30 minutes to retrieve record(s) to perform a job function.  ARMA International, the world's largest records management professionals association, stated $5,521 of an employee's salary is spent each year searching for records they cannot find.  That really adds up!  Practicing records management lowers records search times allowing employees to per...

Over the past year, staff has been working hard to salvage records from the courthouse attic. Many people ask, “Why is removing these records important?” In addition to initiatives by local genealogists and historians over the years to have them moved to secure location, Licking County is required by Ohio Law to maintain the records it creates and receives through daily business. Records in the attic are difficult to retrieve when employees respond to public records requests. The county is required by law to respond to records request in a reasonable amount of time. Also, records are difficult to find because they are not organized, and the environment records are housed in is causing them to deteriorate. If records are falling apart then they are not accessible to the public according to law.  I n January 2009, the department began inventorying and removing permanent records from the attic. Some records were covered in dust, animal feces, and insects. Others were heavily mold da...