Measures to transition to electronic storage of archival documents in Belarus will be completed by the end of 2020, Viktor Kurash, Director of the Department of Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice, told a BELTA correspondent.
Measures to transition to electronic storage of archival documents in Belarus will be completed by the end of 2020, Viktor Kurash, Director of the Department of Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice, told a BELTA correspondent.
"2019 will be a turning point for our sector. We have a great deal of work ahead of us to implement the program for transitioning the storage of archival documents to electronic format. To this end, we need to work seriously with the sources of acquisition, and we have 7.4 thousand organizations in the country. In execution of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers, we must establish an archive of film, photo, and sound documents, which requires the purchase of powerful equipment for scanning films. A lot of work has already been done, and it has been decided to store all digitized data using cloud technologies," noted Viktor Kurash.
Independent research of documentary sources is one of the priority areas in the system of using archival information. "Our institutions receive over 20,000 requests annually. Genealogy-related requests remain stable, with research bookings a year in advance. This pleases us, as it is good when people are interested in the history of their lineage, who we are, where we come from, and what we did. Requests of a socio-legal nature are also frequent; people apply with questions about length of service, average wages, dismissals, transfers, and so on," said the Director of the Department.
According to him, in 2018, the archival sector developed dynamically. The material and technical base was significantly strengthened, a new building for the Zonal State Archive in Slutsk was opened, and the implementation of cooperation agreements with archival services and institutions of foreign countries continued. This year is also expected to be rich in international activity. "We will host a professional meeting of Belarusian-Russian archivists in Vitebsk, where we will traditionally discuss the most pressing issues facing the sector, exchange work experience, and share plans. We will participate in the conference of the Eurasian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (EURASICA), which will be held in Kyrgyzstan," announced Viktor Kurash.