The clerk of the chancery court shall subscribe to at least one (1) and not more than two (2) of the newspapers published in his county as the court or chancellor may direct; and in the event no newspaper is published in the county, the clerk shall subscribe to the newspaper in which the publications ordered by the court are usually made. To preserve such newspapers, the clerk shall carefully file the original or microfilm copies thereof in his office, or may keep the same by means of electronic filing or storage or both as provided in Sections 9-1-51 through 9-1-57, as the clerk may elect. Before the clerk may utilize microfilm copies of newspapers presently on file and of those newspapers to be received in the future, the written approval of the court and the board of supervisors must be obtained. The expense of the subscriptions and the expense of the binding of filed newspapers or of the microfilming process shall be paid out of the county treasury. Two (2) or more counties may join together and agree to accomplish the purposes of this section and to share the costs of necessary equipment, subscriptions and labor involved.