Archive in Face of the Challenges: The Perm State Archive Development Strategy
| 03 December 2024
Posted in
Publication of archival documents
Borisov A.A., Perm, Russian Federation
Archive in Face of the Challenges: The Perm State Archive Development Strategy
Abstract
The article analyses main challenges facing archive in its everyday work. Among these are requirements of openness and accessibility, usability and customer-oriented approach, safety and security, along with active participation in forming the historical memory of the society. Being up to these challenges is crucial for operation and development of a modern archival institution. Therefore, the archivists community needs a new concept of archival industry, a revising of ideas about social mission of archives, a fundamental change in “archive ergonomics” and management of archives. The case of the State Archive of the Perm Region demonstrates one way of shifting an archive from an old paradigm to a new operational system. Beneath the classic image of archive lies the concept of its “conservative” nature: archive for storage, for safekeeping and tracking of documents. This approach assumes that the ultimate goal of archive is creation and maintenance of regulatory conditions for document storage. It is all about document, such is the core of “storage paradigm” (document-oriented paradigm). The new look on the nature of archive stresses usage of documents. Thus paradigm shift: focus goes from document its user. This does not mean that storage becomes a minor function or that its importance lessens. Vice versa, the point is in complementation of storage by usage, document usage giving meaning and fulfillment to storage. The principle of “keeping well what is used well” frees archives from replication, permitting to shift to different activities. In the new paradigm user is the starting point and the ultimate goal of archival activity. The vector change from document to user and from storage to usage does not contradict to the basic principles of security. This is the major management challenge for archives: to combine principles of security with those of efficient document usage, thus responding to an existential request from the society.
Keywords
Archive development strategy, openness, usage of archival documents, culture of remembrance (memorial culture), local history, event management, social mission of archives.
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About the authors
Borisov Andrey Alexandrovich, PhD in History, head of State Archive of the Perm Krai, Perm, Russian Federation, +7-912-880-51-55, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it