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State Records on the Move
On
August 1, a truck pulled away from the Records and Property Building at East 7th
and Court carrying the first load of state records to a new location at 920 Morgan
Street in Des Moines. The State Records Center had been located at the Records
and Property Building since it’s beginning in the mid 1970s. With nearly
60,000 boxes of records from nearly every state agency, along with about 3,000
drawers for redeemed state warrants, and about 1,300 linear feet of files on open
shelves, as well as necessary office equipment, the task of relocating the State
Records Center was formidable.
By August 26 all of the records were in the new facility and by September 1, virtually
all were on shelves bearing new bar coded labels to for content identification
and location information. Full service to agencies will resume later in September
as new software comes on-line and new office procedures are fully developed and
implemented.
The move, stimulated by the renovation of the Records and Property Building into
an office facility for the Department of Public Safety, results in a much improved
storage for state records. The new State Records Center is an environmentally
controlled, one level warehouse facility with appropriate and code-compliant storage
and office areas. By utilizing vertical space (shelving is 14 feet in height)
and new electric powered lifts, staff are able to maximize storage capacity while
minimizing actual floor space requirements.
The implementation of a new software system for records management services at
the same time as the move to a new facility will greatly enhance the ability of
the State Archives and Records Program to provide services to state agencies as
they maintain public records.
An open house on October 18 will afford state agencies and interested individuals
an opportunity to visit the new facility. The State Records Center is located
at 920 Morgan Street, Suite M, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Beth Brannen, manager of
the State Records Center can be reached at (515) 321-3592 or beth.brannen@iowa.gov.
