Document storage space is always a problem for governments, and courts generate huge quantities of documents. Courthouses have had to make administrative decisions about how to store older documents. Some documents must always be readily available for routine reference. Land and property records, for instance, are frequently accessed when a property is surveyed, being bought and sold, or when there is a court case concerning the title. Some courthouses have addressed storage and access of these documents by microfilming records or, more recently, digitizing them.

It is not unusual for older documents to be archived or stored off-site. Alachua County, Florida, maintains such a storage facility with staff that handles requests from the Clerk of Court’s office and the public to retrieve older documentary materials. A large number of what are referred to as the ‘ancient records’ have been digitized, indexed, and placed online at http://www.clerk-alachua-fl.org/archive.