KITSAP COUNTY CLERK | WASHINGTON
“Any vendor can provide microfilm scanning services. What separated BMI was the inclusion of Digital ReeL. We can access our records online and for poor quality records, we’re able to adjust the quality of the images prior to sharing them with the Court or citizens.”
– Dave Peterson | County Clerk
OVERVIEW
The Kitsap County Clerk (Washington) sought to digitally convert just under 1,000 microfilm rolls containing criminal, domestic and probate records from 1978-1992. “We discovered Digital ReeL at our annual Clerk’s Conference and were impressed with the microfilm conversion accuracy and the image enhancement capabilities built within the product,” states Dave Peterson, Kitsap County Clerk.
The Clerk’s office has an existing document management system (Oracle Stellent) and required the digital images to be indexed and formatted properly to import into this system. “Any vendor can provide digital microfilm scanning services. What separated BMI was the inclusion of hosted access to our records online through Digital ReeL. For poor quality and even illegible records, we’re able to use Digital ReeL to adjust the quality of these images prior to sharing them with the Court or citizens.”
CHALLENGES
- Legacy microfilm records with poor quality images (some not readable)
- Desire to scan all records, but lack of budget would have forced project to be done in phases over time
BMI PRODUCTS & SERVICES
- Nearly 1,000 microfilm rolls representing criminal, domestic and probate records from 1978-1992 converted at BMI’s conversion facility
- Digital TIFF records indexed and formatted for import into existing document management system
- TB’s of records hosted at BMI data center; virtual microfilm roll archive accessible over the Internet through the Digital ReeL web client interface
BENEFITS
- Faster record searches that almost never require the use of physical film
- No longer have to tell clients that we cannot get them the information they request due to illegibility