Georgia will soon be the first in the country to close its archives to the public.

Because of budget cuts, Secretary of State Brian Kemp tells WSB the state archives building in Morrow will close to the public Nov. 1.

Kemp says it is certainly not a good situation but they're being asked to cut the budget by three percent.

"We've been in a really tough spot over here for the last two years.  We continue to get more work and less resources and unfortunately this is one of the things that has happened because of that," said Kemp.

Kemp admits he looked elsewhere but this made the most sense and it had to be done quickly.

"I can't wait, until the session starts for the budget to be done for us to be able to make up that kind of money.   We can't just do it in six months, so starting November 1st, we'll be closing the archives," said Kemp.

After that, the public will only be allowed to access the building by appointment; however, the number of appointments could be limited based on the schedule of the remaining employees.

Kemp would not say how many employees would be affected but says he hopes it won't be forever.

"It's one of our priorities.  It's a resource for the state and for our citizens.  Hopefully, we're going to continue to fight as we go through the whole budget process and try to get some help and maybe this can be reversed," said Kemp.