Incorporating scanned BLM title records into the General Land Office Records Automation System (GLORAS)

United States Department of the Interior

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
http://www.blm.gov

September 16, 2022

In Reply Refer To:
1270, 1275, 9600 (HQ-350) P

EMS TRANSMISSION 10/13/2022
Permanent Instruction Memorandum No. 2022-012

To:                  All Field Office Officials

From:              Assistant Director, Energy, Minerals and Realty Management

Subject:           Incorporating scanned BLM title records into the General Land Office Records Automation System (GLORAS)                                                                    

Program Area: Cadastral Survey, Lands and Realty, and Serialized Case Files.

Purpose: This Instruction Memorandum provides direction and guidance to state offices concerning transfer of digital images to GLORAS, scanning standards, and naming conventions for all documents hosted by the GLORAS.

Policy/Action: GLORAS servers have recently been upgraded and moved.  This permanently alters some file paths used by state offices to transfer digital images to GLORAS for inclusion.  States will need to update their copy routines accordingly.  The BLM has developed and adopted scanning standards and naming conventions for GLORAS.  For inclusion of records in GLORAS applications, state offices will follow guidance as identified in attachments 1-7.

State offices that host land and mineral record images on GLORAS have the advantage of a one-stop-shop experience when using applications like the Mineral & Land Records System (MLRS).  This system, which is currently in production, retrieves land record images from GLORAS via web services based on land descriptions.  Resources, time, and funding spent on data storage, security, and maintaining state-hosted land records applications can be better dedicated to data cleanup and maintenance of land record information.  End users responding to a recent survey indicated a desire to retrieve land records from a single source. To maximize efficiency and optimize quality, GLORAS employs digitization standards for inclusion in the application.  These standards are defined below.

Scanning Standards and Naming Requirements:

GLORAS is a dual-purpose system; a digital document management system and a high-quality digital archive of the historic land records maintained by the BLM.  For this reason, GLORAS digitizes records using Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative 4-star rated scanners to capture archive quality uncompressed images to produce an electronic security copy of the Secretary’s collection.  GLORAS hosts a variety of document types.  Each document type has a defined naming convention and scanning standard.  For best results, documents of poor legibility should be processed to exceed the minimum scanning standards.  The table below outlines those minimum standards and sample naming conventions.  All documents must be submitted in uncompressed TIF image file format unless otherwise specified.  See attachments for additional requirements.

Deliveries of batches of images to be included in GLORAS should be transmitted via the BLM network to these shared directories, which host subdirectories to be managed by each state office:

           Patent images

\\blm\dfs\loc\GLO\DCS_Deliverables\<State folder>

Land Status Records

\\blm\dfs\loc\GLO\LSR_Deliverables\<State folder>

Survey plats and field notes

\\blm\dfs\loc\GLO\CSS_Deliverables\<State folder>

CDI images and linking tables

\\blm\dfs\loc\GLO\CDI_Deliverables\<State folder>
TBS images

\\blm\dfs\loc\GLO\TBS_Deliverables\<State folder>

Case File images

            \\blm\dfs\loc\GLO\Case_File_Deliverables\<State folder>

GLORAS staff will migrate the transferred data twice weekly to the appropriate import path and begin the process of publishing to the GLO website.

Prior to submitting the entirety of a state’s scanned images, each state will provide a representative sampling of scanned images to be tested for compatibility.

Budget Impact: None.

Background: GLORAS provides online access to over 12 million Federal land records for lands located within all BLM state offices.  The web-based interface to the GLORAS operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Users can view these documents, download, print copies, or request certified copies of the documents online.  The GLO website is the most widely used site in the Bureau of Land Management and one of the most popular sites in the Department of the Interior.  The records contained in the GLORAS are a priceless resource for industries reliant on natural resources, historians, title companies and researchers in genealogy. 

GLORAS is a collection of subsystems that store information about original land patents, survey plats, field notes, Master Title Plats, and Control Document Index records.  Images in the GLORAS are optical scans of the original land documents issued by the General Land Office and its successor, BLM.  This system is available to a large end-user customer base and is a convenient way to provide access to historical and original documents. 

The goal of the GLORAS program is to incorporate images of all official BLM land and minerals records and to develop a process for keeping the GLO website and database current as records are either issued or modified bureau-wide.

Pages of Manual/ Handbook Sections Affected: None.

Instruction Memorandums Affected: Supersedes WO IM 2008-040.

Coordination:  This PIM was coordinated with the Division of Lands, Realty and Cadastral Survey (HQ350) and the Eastern States Office, Division of Geospatial Services, Branch of GLO Records (ES963).

Contact: If you have any questions concerning the content of this IM, please contact Dominica VanKoten, BLM Chief Cadastral Surveyor at dvankote@blm.gov, or Daniel Fleming, Eastern States GLO Records Branch Chief, at dfleming@blm.go

Signed by:                          Authenticated by:
Nicholas E. Douglas          Robert M. Williams
Assistant Director              Division of Regulatory Affairs and Directives,(HQ-630)

Energy, Minerals and Realty
   Management

7 Attachments

1 – State Office Serial Patents (1 p)

2 – Land Status Records (2 pp)

3 – Cadastral Survey Plats and Field Notes (3 pp)

4 – Control Document Index (6 pp)

5 – CDI Sample Linking Table **Contact the Eastern States GLO program for a copy of the linking table

6 – Tract Book Records (1 p)

7 – Case File Records (1 p)