![]() ![]() Does any exemption apply? If so, contact County Attorney’s office.Do the records exist? If not, letter stating records aren’t in County’s possession.Distinguish public records request from asking questions/requesting information.Does it request public records? If not, contact County Attorney’s office for assistance.Is it clear what is being requested? If not, contact requester for clarification.The response will be coordinated by the department head or designee or the FOIA Officer, who first does an initial evaluation The staff member receiving the request reviews it and routes it as quickly as possible to the department(s) most likely to have the requested records. If requested records are not in the County’s possession but in the possession of the School Board, a constitutional officer, or some other government agency, notify requester and provide contact information if possible.It is helpful to also obtain their telephone number and email address. Requester must provide legal name and address.All public records are presumed open unless exempt from FOIA or prohibited from disclosure by law. Any request for public records (any writing or recording in any format including handwritten notes, typewritten documents, paper records, electronic files, text messages, photographs, audio recordings, video recordings prepared or owned by, or in the possession of a public body or its officers, employees or agents in the transaction of public business) is a FOIA request and must be treated as such.Requests do not have to be in writing and do not have to refer to “FOIA.”.Requests involving Board of Supervisors records or records from multiple departments should be directed to the FOIA Officer or one of the departments involved.Requesters are encouraged to contact the department that maintains the requested records.There are over 277,000 cases indexed in the database and over 12.5 million images of chancery causes available online.Hanover County will respond to all requests for public records in compliance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Sections 2.2-3700 through 2.2-3714 of the Code of Virginia and following this procedure. Information is added to the CRI in such instances to alert researchers regarding a collection's availability. During reformatting, some or all of the original records may be unavailable for viewing however, the full index will remain available for research purposes. The indexed but-not-yet-reformatted original records in the Library's care can be viewed in the Archives Research Room prior to reformatting. The reformatted images-whether digital scans or microfilm-can be viewed at the Library of Virginia, at the circuit court clerk's office, or, in the case of digital images, from any internet connected computer. The valuable original records are then retired to secure storage. This laborious process is undertaken so that the best quality images can be captured in one effort. Since the tri-folded records are often in poor condition, special attention is paid to preparing them for digital reformatting. The original court papers are flat-filed, indexed, and conserved using a set of standards developed by the LVA. ![]() Because the records rely so heavily on testimony from witnesses, they offer a unique glimpse into the lives of Virginians from the early 18th century through the First World War. Each of Virginia's circuit courts created chancery records that contain considerable historical and genealogical information. The Chancery Records Index (CRI) is a result of archival processing and indexing projects overseen by the Library of Virginia (LVA) and funded, in part, by the Virginia Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP). ![]()
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