In an interview, Maryland State Archivist Elaine Rice Bachmann said the idea that the state’s records need to be “freed” is inaccurate. The records were always available for people to search using computers in the archives building in Annapolis, she said. If someone needed a copy of a record or a certification of a record, they could get it sent to them for a small fee.

State archivists have to be careful with public records, Bachmann said. Posting documents online en masse can lead to privacy violations or make it difficult to correct a record that is discovered to have an error. In addition, she said, the agency doesn’t have enough computer server space to make accessible the enormous number of public records generated over time.

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