Reno County Register of Deeds updates digitization plan, warns of live-index risks

Michelle Luckergrove, Reno County Register of Deeds, briefed commissioners on a multi-year digitization effort and outlined risks the office still faces before publishing land records widely online.

Luckergrove said the office completed a transition to Tyler enterprise records management and has imaged many documents; phase 1 digitization is largely finished (14 of 18 record sets), but four numerical land-index books remain live, unbacked and essential for finding documents. She emphasized that if those handwritten indexes were lost in a fire or tornado, there is currently no recovery; the office is exploring a 'historical index' module in Tyler and has issued a revised RFP focused on redaction to protect personally identifiable information prior to online publication.

Commissioners and staff discussed preservation options, including off-site reinforced storage (an "elephant safe" room) and the trade-offs between researcher preferences for the physical books and digital resilience. Luckergrove said some volumes might be archived or stored off-site, and destruction would only occur after careful review because many volumes are permanent records.

The register’s office is also preparing to host the South Central District Register of Deeds Association meeting in April and continues to evaluate vendor bids for redaction and indexing work. Staff said online subscription services could later provide searchable access and new revenue once privacy redaction and indexing is complete.

Next steps: staff will review redaction bids with IT and the county focus group, explore the historical index module, and report back with recommendations on storage, indexing and phased publication.