Digitization of archival records. A solved task or a task of the future

The paper considers the history and current state of the process of digitization of analog documents in the Russian Federation. A comparative analysis of the current issues of digitization of analog documents in foreign countries and in Russia is carried out. The basis for the research is composed by the articles of Russian and foreign experts, which highlight the experience of archives in digitizing analog documents.

The author comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to conduct a largescale discussion by the archivists of federal state archives and the archives of the subjects of the Russian Federation of the current issues connected with the process of digitization of analog documents. The accumulated experience of digitizing analog documents in Russia shows that the most important issues for activating the process of high-quality digitization of analog documents, directly related to the possibility of their subsequent use, are the issues related to the creation of a unified state digitization program, among the tasks of which there can be: the need to summarize the work done in that direction in the regions; the identification of the “pain points” (in particular, the need to create a unified regulatory and methodological framework); the consideration of financing issues that will allow the archives to be provided with qualified IT specialists and the necessary equipment; the possibility of concluding contracts with the third-party organizations that might be responsible for the digitization entrusted to them; etc.

Archives for the most part have not yet faced the issues of accepting initially digital documents for state storage. It is necessary to use the existing situation to resolve the accumulated difficulties with digitization that require the discussion at the all-Russia level. After all, until now, an average of about 5% of documents in need of digitization have only been digitized in the archives.

Thus, if one proceeds from the number of digitized analog documents indicated by the regional archives, the challenges of digitization have not lost their relevance.

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