I have been following the discussion of the costs of Ohio vital records. I have done my part in contacting legislators and the governor. I believe $1.00 is too little for the work involved and $17.00 is too much. Contrary to popular belief, the records are NOT automated and the search is not an easy one for the Ohio Department of Health employees who copy birth and death certificates for us. The records are not in a computer or on microfilm or microfiche. The certificates and corrections are bound together into books with hard covers, each about 2 to 3 inches thick and there are rows and rows of shelves, arranged chronologically. It is like the book stacks at most public libraries, but the shelves of books are less colorful and the books are more consistent in size and shape. Since a person was given 7 years to file the certificates, an employee may have to search through seven years worth of books for the information needed. I'm sure the employees are thankful to those people who filed very soon after the birth or death event occurred. Consider how long it takes us to look through an unindexed book to find information on a particular ancestor. Part of the increased cost of certificates will be used to digitize and index all of the birth and death records that exist and to then archivally store the originals. They hope to be done with this project by 2010, I believe. It is an enormous undertaking. Only then will it be an easy task to find the birth or death certificates we request from them. None of us wants to lose the availability of these records. They are, after all, called vital statistics. For ease of use and for preservation of these vital records, the certificates and corrections must be digitized and the orginals must be stored safely. The state needs to have a reasonable solution to the availability of copies and the cost to customers. I hope they find it. Sunda Anderson Peters