COMPUTERIZING COUNTY RECORDS

In this world of computerization, it makes sense for Cape Girardeau County to quit storing reams upon reams of documents and instead put all of them onto computer disks for permanent storage and convenient retrieval.

As the county is finding out, storage space for documents generated by virtually every office in the courthouse is becoming limited. As times wears on, it will become even more so.

To solve the problem, the county is in the process of putting onto disks documents of all county offices except some in the prosecuting attorney's office that must be preserved on paper. Most of those documents, however, also will be computerized when the county reaches first-class status at the beginning of 1997.

The recorder of deeds' office, which assembles probably the most paperwork of any county office, has begun putting its paperwork on disks, and others will follow.

It may be a time-consuming and costly task, but computerized documentation is a must for a growing county with growing paperwork.