OCR-processed documents: Marker of Public Records Complexity

Technologies like optical character recognition (OCR) are bringing the hard-copy past into the digital future and offer a lot of value to government records managers. But these tools also add a layer of complexity that must be addressed.

OCR refers to the process by which scanned documents are “interpreted” by software to turn images of characters (i.e. letters and numbers) into text that computers can read. Also commonly known as “digitizing a document,” OCR software allows old handwritten property deeds to be scanned and processed into a Word or other type of electronic document that can be keyword searched, reorganized, extracted into another document, and more.

Since searching for responsive documents relies heavily on finding keywords, scanning electronic files without even having to open them is far more efficient than finding, organizing, opening, reading, reorganizing, and copying or scanning paper documents.

However, while software is always improving, OCR processing can’t always interpret every character accurately. Documents rarely come out perfect and require staff time to clean up scanning errors.

As a measure of records request complexity, the count of OCR-processed documents should decrease over time as documents become increasingly “born digital.” But there’s a lot still standing in the way. This blog looks at the impact of OCR documents on Public Records Complexity and how digital tools are helping improve the process.

Why paper remains relevant

Jurisdictions and agencies document stockpiles run the gamut from almost no electronic files to a totally digital environment where there are almost no hard copies or paper files. While there is a general push to transition everything from paper to electronic, a host of logistical, financial, and practical issues mean paper will keep being part of processes and necessitate continued use of OCR technology. Some of these issues include:

• Small jurisdictions/agencies with modest needs and/or resources.
• Agencies lacking adequate document retention policies or practices.
• Agencies that haven’t imaged or digitized older records they need to keep long-term or that they still use frequently.
• Specific reasons why jurisdictions still need to provide records in paper form, even if they’ve been digitized.

Small jurisdictions might not have the need or means to invest in staff or systems to digitize or image their archived and working documents, nor adopt sophisticated systems to organize and store them for current needs or in preparation for possible large public records requests. There’s not much chance they’ll end up in the position of Gold Bar, Washington, (pop. 2,000) which found itself mired in a public records request lawsuit that had the town facing insolvency and disincorporation.

Agencies with document retention policies or practices that fall short

Taken together, document retention policies and practices are like icebergs. There’s the part seen above the water: The laws and policies stating what’s supposed to be kept and for how long. Then there’s the unseen underwater part: Sometimes warehouses full of records that should have been disposed of but weren’t.

Document retention laws should define the body of documents to be considered when responding to records requests. But if inadequate resources are devoted to purging records on schedule, they just pile up with each passing year. Often, they’re neither being digitized if needed to be kept nor disposed of if they don’t. And if documents that should have been disposed of are responsive to incoming requests, they must be provided — adding needlessly to costs and possibly creating grounds for legal action.

It’s not necessarily under-resourced jurisdictions that fall behind in their document housekeeping. It can happen with better-resourced governments that lose track due to emerging and competing priorities that make accumulation of old documents a potential ticking time bomb.

Agencies with working paper files

Some documents — like those related to property ownership or development — must be kept long-term or even forever. Others such as property plans and infrastructure as-built plans often need to be consulted to answer emerging questions and solve new problems even if the documents are very old.

For various reasons — including resistance to new technology, changing demands on resources that leave imaging/digitizing at the bottom of the priority list, and management preferences — many jurisdictions simply have not imaged or digitized these documents. If a records request comes in that they are responsive to, agencies can be looking at days, weeks, or, in some cases, years of time spent reviewing, copying, and scanning these files. In a worst-case scenario, agencies might do this digitizing and then not leverage these new resources for future use.

Further, digitizing does not eliminate the need to keep paper.

As part of 2019 public records request metrics reported to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC), the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation reported, “most of our records have been digitized; if not, we scan and send. Sometimes the scan was incomplete, so we pull from Archives and re-scan and send.” The takeaway: Even though almost everything has been digitized, it’s important to keep paper archives.

Providing records in “old school” form

It seems logical that if jurisdictions do a great job at digitizing their documents they’ll never have to look back. Responsive document retrieval, review, and provision will all be neatly and efficiently in the digital realm. But if that were the case, OCR-processed documents wouldn’t be a complexity factor.

With its 2019 PRR metrics, the Washington Attorney General’s Office (AGO) reported: “AGO offers all records electronically. However, requesters who are incarcerated or residents of the DSHS [Department of Social and Health Services] Special Commitment Center are often prohibited from or do not want to receive records electronically; therefore, the agency provides them paper records.”

According to the City of Lake Stevens, Washington, one out of every six requesters wanted to come into city hall to examine the records rather than be sent paper copies or electronic files — a metric that is not tracked in the report.

Arizona’s public records law makes this clear: “Public records and other matters in the custody of any officer shall be open to inspection by any person at all times during office hours.” While this provision is likely more than 100 years old and doesn’t reflect how an in-person inspection request would play out, it does evoke the fundamental nature of public records laws. Technology has moved people to a place where it’s much easier to just provide copies.

The City of Kennewick, Washington, reported to JLARC that of its 2,202 requests in 2019, 329 were provided in paper form and that 97% of the 329 were for police department records. “We’ve worked actively to encourage electronic records for these customers (physical records are the most costly for them and most time-consuming for us),” the city noted, but people choose hard copies anyway, coming in to the office to pay for and collect the documents.

Requests to review in person aren’t uncommon and underscore what is really the fundamental right in public records requests: The right to access and inspect the records, and in the larger context the right of individuals to see the workings of government.

OCR in lockdown

As with most of the Granicus Public Records Complexity Index markers, counts are trending significantly upward with time. From 2018 to 2025, OCR-processed documents increased about 32% when adjusted for volume. The 2020 count does show a “COVID dip” (the Q2 2020 counts dips significantly below the Q1 2020 count), but the rises of the Q3 and Q4 counts in that same year are significantly higher than those of 2018 and 2019. This makes sense in the context of greatly increased numbers of PRRs in general in 2020. But it also spotlights another reality: As many staff were working from home from early spring through 2020, Granicus was working for them to help successfully access and OCR-process the responsive documents they needed.

Granicus offers an add-on module called Attachment Search with OCR that optimizes the processing and searching of paper documents that aren’t machine-readable