The Main Directions of Archiving Informatization in the Context of Electronic Society Development

The article discusses the main directions of informatization of archiving in Russia. Based on the analysis of state programs, reports of the head of the Federal Archival Agency and analytical reports of VNIIDAD (All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute for Records and Archives Management), some strategic directions for the development of archiving were noted, including informatization of record-keeping and reference tools, organization of remote access to digitalized primary sources. The creation of electronic inventories is included in the list of the strategic indicators of Russian archiving development. The article presents an overview of the electronic reference systems (tools), deals with such directories as the Central Catalog of Funds, guidebooks of archives. In addition, the objectives of digitizing archival documents and examples of Siberian archives that provide users with remote access are considered. The implementation of these areas will contribute to the expansion of information support for historical studies in terms of searching, preliminary study and the online use of archival sources. A special attention is paid to the opportunity of making legal inquiries on the social protection of citizens in electronic form, as well as thematic inquiries for information on specific problems, topics, events, facts. This opportunity appeared due to the expansion of access to digitized sources, the improvement of the infrastructure and professional communications. The organization of this opportunity was one of the first stages of informatization of archiving. The article highlights the monitoring projects on archival documents' digitization that result in the development of a set of methodological documents aimed at setting uniform requirements for digitization of archival documents and electronic reference tools. The guidelines for the electronic copying of archival documents and management of the received information array are the most common. In addition, monitoring revealed the purpose of digitizing documents in the archives. The state archives of Tobolsk and of Krasnoyarsk Krai are considered as examples of the implementation of the "electronic archive" concept; they provide users with the opportunity not only to work with electronic reference systems, but also to work remotely with digitized documents. Informatization of the work of archives allows to transfer a whole range of public services in the Internet space. It is concluded that Russian archives are gradually becoming part of an electronic society.