Case records and recording practices are an important but ignored part of social casework. Social work recordkeeping methods have coincided with machine technology. At the Benjamin Rose Institute, recording in social work has gone through four clearly differentiated phases: (1) registered-typed records; (2) abbreviated diary; (3) process recording; and (4) differential recording. Recording has been influenced by technological developments, increasing emphases on accountability, federally mandated development of professional standards review organizations (PSROs), rulings on confidentiality, and changes in medical recordkeeping. Future trends indicate that recordkeeping will be computerized, and that records will return to chronological formats and will be shorter and more factual. (BL)