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A Publication Featuring The Information
Services Technology of Maine State Government
| Volume VII, Issue 3 | March 2004 |
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By Renee Loring
Maine State archive records now available 24/7 from the Web.
The Department of the Secretary of State will soon launch the on-line Maine Archives Interactive, the 16th on-line service offered by the Department of the Secretary of State: http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/
"This is a great example of providing better customer service through technology," said Secretary of State Dan A. Gwadosky. "Customers can now search for descriptions of millions of historical records from their home or office. This online research room is open all day, every day." With records dating back to 1639, the Maine State Archives holds nearly 93 million archival State government records, and some local government records.
From the left: Archives Research Room employees: Anthony Douin, Anne Small, and supervisor Art Dostie will supply customers’ requests for copies of Archive’s treasures. Copies of George W. French’s (1882-1970) Maine photographs are especially popular, and make wonderful gifts (http://www.maine.gov/sos/arc/exhibits/Frenchpg.htm).
"The Archives already serves more than 5,000 people and processes more than 12,000 requests every year through its Research Room in Augusta. In addition, 500,000 inquiries are made on its Internet accessible vital records databases and that number is sure to grow with this new service," said Maine State Archivist James Henderson. "Testing has greatly improved the accuracy of the search service and we’ll be making more improvements based on customer feedback."
With a simple keyword search, a customer may query nine databases real time using a Web browser. Once a description of a record is located, the Archives staff provides a quote for copying and delivery, and the customer may pay with a credit card or by mailing in a check. Upon receipt of payment, the Archives staff mails or e-mails the record to the customer.
Maine State Archives records are useful for tracing genealogy, legislative history and intent, land surveys, Civil War history, military service, and governmental policy such as mental health, public health, education, labor, welfare and corrections.
Maine Archives Interactive is a service of the Department of the Secretary of State, in cooperation with InforME, the State of Maine’s private-sector partner and official web portal provider. All on-line services and official State of Maine web pages can be accessed from the state portal: www.Maine.gov.
