Introduction of Information Technologies in the State Archives of Russian Federation


Computerization of the basic archival process is one of the most important tasks today. In the State Archives of the Russian Federation this process is split into several directions. The first task is creation of a computer based archive reference system. As a baseground we take the Archives database which includes the complete list of archival resources with full-scale annotations of the contents of each archive, and also more than a million of names of files (about 17% of the total fund). All the files will be listed in the database during the next 2-5 years. Also in the future all the archive databases containing information about particular documents will be converted into the main database, and a common reference system will be created. An essential addition to the database could be a traditional card catalogue, which includes more than 11 thousands of pieces. Conversion of this catalogue into digital is also an important part of the creation of the computer reference system.

At the same time we are digitizing documents, which electronic images make up the digital archive. Now it consists of more than million of images. We also plan to scan the basic documentary complexes, which are requested by the visitors more frequently than anything. Completion of the digital archive, developing the techniques of scanning and network transmission of the images allows to provide proper remote access to the materials of the archive.

Finally, the third part of the computerization process consists of creation of a computerized document ordering system, and control of the document movement throughout all the stages of work.

First two parts of work are conducted on the base of standard MS Access software, the last - on the base of SQL server.