Government Records Digitization in Pennsylvania: A County & Municipal Guide

Government records digitization in Pennsylvania is the disciplined conversion of paper and microfilm records into approved electronic formats, governed by the retention schedules the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) maintains for local government. It is not simply scanning. A defensible program applies the correct retention period to every records series first, captures images to a preservation standard, indexes them for retrieval, and stores them so they remain authentic and legible for as long as the law requires the record to survive. Done well, it converts a shelf of file boxes into a searchable system that answers public requests in minutes rather than days.

Three forces make this work matter now. Public access expectations have tightened: under the Right-to-Know Law, an open-records officer must respond to a written request within five business days, and digitized records make that clock achievable. Format rules have opened up: Pennsylvania now permits permanent records to be held electronically in PDF/A, and municipalities have been allowed to keep permanent records entirely in electronic form since 2019. And the federal benchmark has moved: the National Archives stopped accepting analog transfers of permanent records in 2024, signaling where public-sector recordkeeping is headed even for governments NARA does not directly regulate.

This guide walks county and municipal officials through the full program: who governs Pennsylvania's records, how retention schedules and permanent records work, when records may live electronically, the digitization standards that make a scan defensible, how digitization speeds Right-to-Know compliance, how the County Records Improvement Fund pays for it, the economics, a phased plan, and the mistakes that undermine otherwise sound projects. Reynolds Business Systems, based in Emmaus, builds these programs for governments across the Lehigh Valley and the wider Mid-Atlantic.

What government records digitization means in Pennsylvania

Digitization is the controlled process of producing an electronic copy of a record that can stand in for the original for legal, administrative, and historical purposes. In a government context, the distinction between digitization and casual scanning is the entire point. A casual scan produces an image. A digitization program produces a record: classified to a retention series, captured at a defensible quality, described with metadata so it can be found, and preserved in a format that will still open and remain authentic years later.

What separates Pennsylvania from a generic scanning project is that the rules are not the agency's to invent. County records may be retained and disposed of only in accordance with retention schedules promulgated by the County Records Committee under the County Records Act, as compiled in the PHMC County Records Manual. The schedule decides how long each record lives; digitization changes the medium, not the obligation. That is why the first step of any program is mapping records to their series, not loading a scanner.

Scale explains the appetite for it. Pennsylvania has 67 counties, each classified by population and each maintaining records under PHMC-approved retention schedules, alongside hundreds of municipalities and the court system. The Commonwealth's recordkeeping is decentralized by design, which means consistent digitization standards, applied office by office, are what keep a county's records legally usable and publicly accessible.

Who governs Pennsylvania government records

A digitization program touches several regimes at once, and confusing them is a common source of error. Retention authority is split between committees that sit under the PHMC, the courts run their own schedule, and a separate office governs public access. Mapping every records series to the correct authority before scanning anything is the discipline that keeps a project defensible.

The County Records Manual's schedules apply to county offices of counties of the second through eighth class; Philadelphia, the sole first-class county, operates under separate arrangements. The Municipal Records Manual was approved December 16, 2008 and amended July 23, 2009 and March 28, 2019, and it governs third-class cities, boroughs, incorporated towns, and first- and second-class townships under schedules approved by the Local Government Records Committee. A county program frequently spans all three manuals, which is why the mapping step is foundational rather than clerical.

Retention schedules and permanent records

Retention is the spine of a digitization program because it tells you what to keep, for how long, and what may already be eligible for destruction. Pennsylvania's schedules do not run on a single universal timer. Some series carry short periods that begin at creation or a triggering event; others are permanent and may never be lawfully destroyed. Applying the schedule first prevents the most expensive mistake in records work: paying to digitize material that should have been destroyed instead.

The permanent tier is where digitization delivers its clearest preservation value, because these are the records a county must protect indefinitely. Under the County Records Manual, County Deed Books and Indices must be retained permanently for administrative, legal, and historical purposes; the Official Minutes of the Board of County Commissioners or County Council (series AL-16.1) must be retained permanently; and County Will Books must be retained permanently. Court records follow their own rule: Court of Common Pleas records should be retained for a minimum of six years following the expiration of the appeal period under the AOPC schedule.

Keeping permanent records electronically: PDF/A for counties and municipalities

The question that decides whether a digitization program can actually reduce paper is whether the electronic copy is allowed to be the permanent record. In Pennsylvania, the answer is increasingly yes, but the conditions differ between counties and municipalities, and getting them wrong undermines the legal standing of the digital file.

Counties may maintain permanent records electronically using the PDF/A format, but must notify the PHMC of their intent to use PDF/A for each records series. Municipalities have gone further: since the 2019 Municipal Records Manual update, Pennsylvania municipalities may keep permanent records exclusively in electronic (PDF/A) form without a paper or microfilm copy, provided the records are stored on a live server with at least one separately backed-up copy. PDF/A matters here because it is an archival format designed to render the same way far into the future, which is exactly the property a permanent record needs.

The practical lesson is that format approval is a precondition, not an afterthought. A municipality that scans its permanent minutes to ordinary PDF and discards the paper, without using PDF/A and without a separately backed-up copy, has not satisfied the rule. A county that adopts PDF/A but never notifies the PHMC for those series has skipped a required step. The digitization standard and the notification are what convert a convenient scan into a record the Commonwealth recognizes.

The federal benchmark: NARA M-23-07 and digitization standards

Pennsylvania counties and municipalities are not regulated by the National Archives, but the federal transition sets the benchmark every public-sector records program is now measured against, and it is worth understanding because it shapes vendor practice, software defaults, and auditor expectations. Under OMB Memorandum M-23-07, by June 30, 2024 all federal agencies must manage all permanent records in an electronic format. After that date, NARA will no longer accept transfers of permanent or temporary records in analog formats and will accept records only in electronic format with appropriate metadata.

The memorandum also made digitization an obligation rather than an option for legacy paper: starting July 1, 2024, federal agencies are required to digitize permanent records created in analog formats before transferring them to NARA. The technical bar for that work is set in regulation. 36 CFR Part 1236 Subpart E establishes the standards and procedures agencies must apply when digitizing permanent paper records using reflective digitization techniques, covering image quality, metadata, and validation so that a digitized permanent record can serve as the record of record.

For a Pennsylvania official, the takeaway is not that these federal deadlines bind a county clerk's office. It is that the standard of care has shifted. When a county builds its program to capture metadata, validate image quality, and preserve permanent records in PDF/A, it is aligning with the same expectations the federal government has codified, which makes the resulting records easier to defend in an audit or a dispute.

What a defensible scan actually includes

• Format: PDF/A for permanent records, so the file renders faithfully for the full retention period.
• Image quality: capture legible enough that the digital copy can substitute for the original, in line with the reflective digitization standards in 36 CFR Part 1236 Subpart E.
• Metadata: descriptive and administrative data that ties each image to its records series and identifiers so it can be retrieved and authenticated.
• Validation: quality control that confirms completeness and legibility before any original is dispositioned.

The Right-to-Know Law: how digitization speeds public access

Pennsylvania is an open-records state, and the Right-to-Know Law (Act 3 of 2008) presumes government records are public unless an exemption applies. The operational pressure that creates is a clock. Under section 901, an agency's open-records officer must respond to a written records request within five business days of receipt. A records office still pulling boxes by hand absorbs that pressure as overtime and risk; a digitized, indexed office answers most requests by search.

The deadlines compound if a request is not handled promptly. If fulfillment is expected to exceed 30 days beyond the initial five-business-day period, the request is deemed denied unless the requester agrees in writing to an extension (section 902). A requester may appeal a denied or deemed-denied request to the Office of Open Records within 15 business days of the agency's response or deemed denial (section 1101(a)), and the OOR appeals officer must issue a final determination within 30 days of receiving the appeal (section 1101(b)). Each missed internal deadline pushes the matter toward an appeal the agency would rather avoid.

Fees are tightly controlled, which is why agencies should not treat records requests as a revenue source. The OOR Official RTKL Fee Schedule caps black-and-white photocopies at $0.25 per page for the first 1,000 pages. No fee may be charged for staff time, for searching for or retrieving records, or for an agency's review or response letter. An agency may require a requester to prepay an estimate of fees when the cost to fulfill a request is expected to exceed $100. Because labor is unrecoverable, the cost of a slow paper search lands entirely on the agency, which is the quiet economic case for digitization.

Funding a records program: the County Records Improvement Fund and COSTARS

Digitization is rarely blocked by law in Pennsylvania; it is blocked by budget. The Commonwealth anticipated this and built a dedicated funding mechanism into the recording process itself. Pennsylvania law (42 P.S. section 21052.1) charges a $5 fee for each document recorded, in addition to the Recorder of Deeds' standard fee, to fund records management improvements.

That fee is split deliberately. Of the $5 records-improvement recording fee, $2 is deposited into the County Records Improvement Fund and $3 is retained by the Recorder of Deeds for office records management, with the fund supporting a comprehensive records management plan. A County Records Improvement Fund exists in counties of the second-A, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth classes and in home rule charter counties of those classes. Because the fund accrues with recording activity, a county that records documents steadily builds a recurring, purpose-restricted source for exactly this kind of modernization.

On the procurement side, Pennsylvania's COSTARS cooperative purchasing program lets local governments buy from pre-vetted, state-contracted suppliers without running their own full competitive procurement, which shortens the path from budgeted dollars to an active project. Used together, the County Records Improvement Fund and COSTARS give a county both a funding stream and a streamlined way to spend it.

The economics of digitization

The return on a records digitization program comes from three places: reclaimed staff time, recurring funding that offsets cost, and avoided risk on public-access deadlines. The labor figure is the largest and the most overlooked. Workers spend an estimated 20 to 30 percent of the workday — roughly 1.6 to 2.5 hours per day — searching for and gathering information, time a digital records environment can reduce. In a records office, that search burden is the job, not a side effect of it.

Funding offsets the cost. Using the cited $2-per-document deposit into the County Records Improvement Fund, a county recording 30,000 documents in a year (an illustrative volume) would accrue about $60,000 over that year (30,000 multiplied by $2 equals $60,000, example math) earmarked for records improvements such as digitization. The $2 figure is cited; the recording volume is illustrative and varies widely by county size and real-estate activity.

The access side closes the case. A 1,000-page request fulfilled on paper at the capped $0.25 per page yields $250 in recoverable copy fees (1,000 multiplied by $0.25 equals $250, example math) — but the Right-to-Know Law bars charging for the staff hours spent pulling and reviewing those files. The labor of a paper search is unrecoverable by law, while a digitized, indexed collection collapses that labor into a search. Every number here traces to a cited unit value; the volumes are clearly illustrative.

A phased digitization program for a Pennsylvania county or municipality

A defensible program runs in sequence. Each phase de-risks the next, and skipping a phase is what turns a digitization project into a liability. The order below applies whether the work is handled in-house or with a vendor.

1. Inventory and classify. Identify every records series in scope and map it to the correct schedule — the County Records Manual, the Municipal Records Manual, or the AOPC court schedule. With 67 counties each operating under PHMC-approved schedules, the goal is to know exactly which authority governs each box before it moves.
2. Apply the retention schedule first. Determine what is permanent (such as Deed Books, Will Books, and commissioner minutes), what is term-limited, and what has already passed retention. Records eligible for destruction should be dispositioned through the proper process rather than scanned, so the program does not spend money digitizing material that should be gone.
3. Prioritize by value and demand. Sequence the permanent series and the records that draw the most Right-to-Know requests first, where digitization repays effort fastest in both preservation and access.
4. Set the digitization standard. Specify PDF/A for permanent records, define metadata fields keyed to each series, and align image quality and validation to the reflective digitization standards in 36 CFR Part 1236 Subpart E.
5. Scan and index. Capture the images and build a searchable index tied to records-series identifiers, so retrieval is a query rather than a hunt.
6. Quality control. Validate completeness, legibility, and metadata accuracy before any original is dispositioned — the check that lets the digital copy stand in for the paper.
7. Notify and store. Counties notify the PHMC of intent to use PDF/A for each permanent series; municipalities confirm storage on a live server with at least one separately backed-up copy.
8. Authorize disposition. Destroy paper originals only when the schedule and the governing committee permit, and document every disposition so the chain of custody is auditable.

Common mistakes and when not to digitize

Most failed government digitization projects fail the same handful of ways. Each mistake below converts a sound idea into legal exposure or wasted budget, and each is avoidable with the sequence above.

• Scanning before applying retention — paying to digitize records that should have been destroyed under the schedule.
• Destroying paper originals without committee authorization, breaking the defensible chain of custody.
• Skipping the required PHMC notification when a county relies on PDF/A for a permanent series.
• Using ordinary PDF or proprietary image formats instead of PDF/A for permanent records.
• Single-copy storage with no separate backup, when the municipal rule requires at least one separately backed-up copy.
• Treating Right-to-Know requests as revenue — staff search and review time is not recoverable, and copies are capped at $0.25 per page for the first 1,000 pages.
• Assuming a uniform retention period; there is no single 7-year or 30-year rule, so each series must be checked.

There are also records a program should leave alone. Material already past its retention period should be dispositioned through the proper process, not scanned. Short-retention, low-access records nearing the end of their schedule rarely justify the cost of digitization. The disciplined answer to whether a record should be digitized always starts with the schedule, not the scanner.

The Lehigh Valley angle: local records expertise

Pennsylvania's recordkeeping is decentralized, so the practical knowledge that matters is local: which manual governs a given office, how a county notifies the PHMC for a PDF/A series, and how to structure a project that survives an audit. Reynolds Business Systems is based in Emmaus and serves governments across the Lehigh Valley — Lehigh and Northampton counties and the boroughs and townships around Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton — along with the wider Mid-Atlantic.

A Pennsylvania-grounded partner builds the program in the order the Commonwealth expects: mapping records to the County or Municipal Records Manual, applying retention before capture, scanning permanent records to PDF/A with metadata that aligns to the federal digitization standard, handling PHMC notification, and documenting disposition. Procurement can run through the COSTARS cooperative program, and modernization can be funded in part through the County Records Improvement Fund, so a county is not starting from a blank budget line.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pennsylvania an open records state?

Yes. Under the Right-to-Know Law (Act 3 of 2008), government records in Pennsylvania are presumed public unless a specific exemption applies. An agency's open-records officer must respond to a written request within five business days, and a denial or deemed denial can be appealed to the Office of Open Records. Digitized, indexed records make meeting that five-day clock far more realistic.

Can I view PA public records for free?

Inspecting records is generally low- or no-cost, and the Right-to-Know Law bars charging for staff time, searching, retrieving records, or an agency's response letter. Copies do carry a fee: the Office of Open Records caps black-and-white photocopies at $0.25 per page for the first 1,000 pages. An agency may require prepayment when the estimated fees to fulfill a request exceed $100.

What is the 7-year retention policy in Pennsylvania?

There is no single statewide 7-year rule for government records. Pennsylvania sets retention series by series in the County and Municipal Records Manuals, with periods ranging from a few years to permanent. Some private-sector and tax records commonly follow seven-year practices, but a county or municipal records officer should always check the specific series in the applicable PHMC manual rather than assuming a blanket period.

What government records are kept for 30 years?

Pennsylvania's local-government schedules do not use a single 30-year tier that applies across the board; retention is assigned individually to each records series. Some series are short, many are mid-length, and key series such as County Deed Books, Will Books, and the official minutes of the Board of County Commissioners are permanent. The reliable answer for any record is the series entry in the County or Municipal Records Manual.

How long must Pennsylvania counties keep records?

It depends on the series. County records may be retained and disposed of only under schedules promulgated by the County Records Committee in the PHMC County Records Manual, which applies to counties of the second through eighth class. Periods range from a few years to permanent — Deed Books and Indices, Will Books, and commissioner minutes are permanent — while court records carry a minimum of six years after the appeal period expires.

What is the PA County Records Manual?

The County Records Manual is the PHMC's compilation of the retention and disposition schedules for Pennsylvania county offices, promulgated by the County Records Committee under the County Records Act. It applies to counties of the second through eighth class and tells each office how long to keep every records series and when records may be lawfully destroyed. Counties must follow it; digitization changes the format, not the schedule.

Can Pennsylvania municipalities keep permanent records electronically?

Yes. Since the 2019 Municipal Records Manual update, Pennsylvania municipalities may keep permanent records exclusively in electronic PDF/A form without a paper or microfilm copy, provided the records are stored on a live server with at least one separately backed-up copy. The Municipal Records Manual was approved in 2008 and amended in 2009 and 2019, under schedules approved by the Local Government Records Committee.

Who approves county records retention schedules in Pennsylvania?

The County Records Committee, operating under the County Records Act and administered through the PHMC's Division of Archival and Records Management Services, promulgates the retention schedules for county offices. Those schedules are compiled in the County Records Manual. Municipal schedules are approved separately by the Local Government Records Committee, and court records follow the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts schedule under 204 Pa. Code section 213.51.

Does digitizing records let a county legally destroy the paper originals?

Only when the retention schedule permits and the disposition is properly authorized and documented. Digitization does not by itself create a right to destroy. Counties relying on PDF/A for a permanent series must notify the PHMC, and originals should be dispositioned only after quality control confirms the digital copy is complete and legible. Destroying originals without committee authorization breaks the defensible chain of custody.

What file format should governments use for permanent electronic records?

PDF/A. Pennsylvania permits counties and municipalities to maintain permanent records electronically in PDF/A, an archival format built to render faithfully over the long term. Counties must notify the PHMC of intent to use PDF/A for each records series. Permanent records held only electronically should also follow the storage safeguard of a live server with at least one separately backed-up copy, as the municipal rule requires.

How does the federal NARA deadline affect Pennsylvania counties?

It does not directly regulate them, but it sets the benchmark. Under OMB Memorandum M-23-07, by June 30, 2024 federal agencies had to manage all permanent records electronically, after which NARA stopped accepting analog transfers, and from July 1, 2024 agencies must digitize permanent analog records before transfer. A county that aligns its program to those standards builds records that are easier to defend in an audit.

How is records digitization funded for Pennsylvania counties?

Largely through the County Records Improvement Fund. Pennsylvania law charges a $5 fee for each document recorded, of which $2 is deposited into the fund (the other $3 is retained by the Recorder of Deeds) to support a comprehensive records management plan. The fund exists in counties of the second-A and third through eighth classes and home rule charter counties of those classes, and procurement can run through COSTARS.