R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-1-11
The public records administration program of the secretary of state shall have the right to examine the condition of public records and shall give advice and assistance to public officials in the solution of their problems of preserving, creating, filing, and making available the public records in their custody. When requested by the program, public officials shall assist the program in the preparation of records control schedules of public records in their custody approved by the head of the agency having custody of the records. Upon review and approval of the schedules by the program, the program shall, subject to the availability of necessary space, staff, and other facilities for those purposes, make available space in its record center for the filing of semi-current records so scheduled and in its public records repository for noncurrent records of permanent value and shall render other assistance as needed, including the microfilming of records so scheduled.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-1-11