{"id":34457,"date":"2026-07-31T12:11:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/?p=34457"},"modified":"2026-07-31T12:20:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:20:57","slug":"technology-of-tslac-slrm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/2026\/07\/31\/technology-of-tslac-slrm\/","title":{"rendered":"The Technology of TSLAC: How SLRM Makes Texas Government Records Safe and Accessible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Walk into the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s Shoal Creek Records Center and the first thing you’ll notice is scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towering shelves stretch across a 105,000-square-foot warehouse, holding more than 369,000 boxes of government records. Everything from court documents and highway plans to university records and historical deeds is carefully stored in a climate-controlled environment, each box tracked with a barcode and available for retrieval when agencies need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, it looks like a warehouse. In reality, it’s one of the state’s largest information management systems.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Behind every stored box, digitized document, and preserved roll of microfilm is a team dedicated to ensuring government information remains accessible, secure, and legally compliant. While technology powers much of that work, the real story is how people use those tools to help agencies preserve history, improve efficiency, and make public information available when it’s needed most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records Management Starts Long Before Records Are Stored<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many people never see the first half of the records management process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before a single box arrives at the State Records Center, agencies work with State and Local Records Management (SLRM)<\/a> analysts like Government Information Analyst Ella Castro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our job is really about helping agencies understand what they have, how long they need to keep it, and how to manage it,” Castro explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every Texas state agency, and thousands of local governments, follow records retention schedules that comply with state law. Those schedules determine how long records must be maintained before they can legally be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process is far more complex than simply assigning dates. Laws change. Government responsibilities evolve. New technologies emerge. Every five years, state agencies recertify their retention schedules, working alongside SLRM analysts to review and update records series. Local governments file compliance paperwork notifying SLRM which of 12 local government retention schedules created and maintained by TSLAC they will use to build their own government specific schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many organizations, records management can feel intimidating. Instead of acting as regulators, SLRM consultants serve as trusted advisors, helping agencies remove that uncertainty. They\u2019re like detectives, poring over the clues to crack the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We remove the fear barrier,” Castro said. “It’s like puzzle solving.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology helps support that work behind the scenes. Internal databases track consultations, compliance, agency profiles, and records schedules, allowing analysts to manage thousands of government entities across Texas while providing personalized guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as important, Castro hopes technology will eventually make training more accessible. The SLRM division\u2019s goal is to further develop an online learning management system so state agencies and local governments across Texas can access updated records management training whenever they need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning Warehouses into Searchable Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once records arrive at the Shoal Creek State Records Center, technology takes over in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every box receives a unique barcode that follows it throughout its lifecycle. Using handheld scanners connected to the records management platform Gimmal, staff scan each box as it enters storage, moves to another location, is checked out by an agency, or is eventually approved for destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than searching warehouse aisles manually, staff can locate records within minutes. Agencies can also log directly into the system to see what records they have in storage, request files for delivery, review retention dates, or authorize destruction once records have fulfilled their legal requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What it’s really all about is accessibility of records,” said State Records Center Manager Zach Bruton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warehouse itself is designed with preservation in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate controls protect aging documents from heat and humidity. Motion-sensitive lighting reduces unnecessary exposure. Smart fire suppression systems isolate emergencies to specific areas, helping safeguard thousands of records from water damage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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As demand has grown, so has the facility. Construction is currently underway on a new 232,000-square-foot Records Center that will more than double storage capacity while incorporating improved workflows and modern technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Paper Becomes Digital<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not every record stays on paper. For agencies needing faster access, or working with fragile historical documents, the Records Center offers imaging services that convert physical records into searchable digital files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike commercial scanning companies, the team works as consultants first. Each project begins with conversations about an agency’s goals, budget, retention requirements, and long-term access needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s all agency driven,” explained Imaging Supervisor Jacqueline Jacobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some agencies simply need digital copies for employees working remotely. Others want to preserve deteriorating documents before they become unreadable. Still others are managing massive infrastructure projects involving millions of pages.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Record<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Depending on the project, staff produce TIFF images<\/a>, searchable PDFs using optical character recognition (OCR)<\/a>, JPEGs, or archival-quality microfilm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their equipment ranges from large-format Rowe map scanner capable of digitizing oversized engineering drawings to specialized FlexScan systems that convert microfilm into individual digital files, a service growing in demand as older microfilm readers disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent projects have included everything from Texas Department of Transportation right-of-way records to historical documents for the Texas Historical Commission, university collections, and the General Land Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preserving Information for the Next 500 Years<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While digital technology dominates today’s workflows, one preservation method continues to stand the test of time: Microfilm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using specialized equipment dating back decades alongside modern archive writers, SLRM still creates archival-quality microfilm because, when stored properly, it can preserve records for up to 500 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We only store originals,” Jacobs said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"SLRM<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original film is securely stored in disaster recovery vaults while agencies receive working copies for everyday use. If those copies wear out, new ones can be produced without risking the master archive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The combination of digital imaging and long-term analog preservation gives agencies multiple layers of protection against data loss, technological change, and document deterioration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology in Service of Public Access<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whether helping agencies navigate retention laws, tracking hundreds of thousands of storage boxes, digitizing fragile documents, or preserving records for future generations, every part of SLRM shares the same mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making government information accessible. Technology certainly makes that possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But just as important are the people behind it, records analysts who simplify complex concepts, imaging specialists who preserve history, and records center staff who ensure agencies can retrieve the information they need, when they need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the State and Local Records Management team, every barcode scanned, every document digitized, and every retention schedule reviewed serves a larger purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not simply storing records. Making sure Texas can always find them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walk into the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s Shoal Creek Records Center and the first thing you’ll notice is scale. Towering shelves stretch across a 105,000-square-foot warehouse, holding more than 369,000 boxes of government records. Everything from court documents and highway plans to university records and historical deeds is carefully stored in a climate-controlled…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":33555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1313,1312,1314,1316,1315],"class_list":["post-34457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-record-management","tag-slrm","tag-state-and-local-records","tag-technology-of-tslac","tag-texas-record-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34457"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34466,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34457\/revisions\/34466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/ld\/librarydevelopments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}