NEW JERSEY HAS STRICT COURT RECORD RETENTION POLICIES WHICH, COMBINED WITH AN EXPANDED CRIMINAL CALENDAR AND LONGER INDIVIDUAL CASE RECORDS, CREATE AN UNWIELDY STORAGE PROBLEM. BEFORE THE SYSTEM WAS INSTALLED, MIDDLESEX COUNTY USED 12,700 SQUARE FEET OF ONSITE STORAGE AND 9,000 SQUARE FEET OF RENTED OFFSITE STORAGE SPACE FOR ITS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL RECORDS. THE INCONVENIENT OFFSITE STORAGE WASTED PERSONNEL TIME. BECAUSE ONLY THE CRIMINAL RECORDS WERE COMPUTERIZED, AND THEREFORE, TOTAL RETRIEVAL DEMAND ON THE SYSTEM WAS LOW, IT WAS NOT ECONOMICAL TO INSTALL A COMPUTER-DRIVEN MICROFILM SYSTEM. INSTEAD, INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS FROM RUTGERS UNIVERSITY DESIGNED AN AUTOMATED MICROFILM SYSTEM WHICH USES A READER-PRINTER AND CATHODE RAY TUBES OPERATED BY AN IBM 370-145. THE TECHNICAL DETAILS OF THE SYSTEM ARE EXPLAINED. RECORDS ARE MICROFILMED AS SOON AS THEY ARE FILED WITH THE COURT. BOTH THE HARD COPY AND THE MICROFILM ARE MAINTAINED WHILE THE CASE IS IN PROCESS. AT THE END OF THE MONTH, THE COMPUTERIZED CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM PRODUCES A LIST OF ALL CASES DISPOSED OF DURING THE MONTH. THIS LIST IS RETAINED FOR 2 YEARS AND THEN IS USED AS A SCHEDULE FOR DESTRUCTION OF HARDCOPY ORIGINAL FILES. NEW JERSEY LAW SPECIFIES THAT MICROFILM COPIES HAVE THE SAME LEGAL STATUS AS ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS, AND THE SYSTEM IS SUBJECT TO THE SAME PRIVACY LAWS AS HARD COPY FILES. (GLR)