Press conference by the Director of the Department of Archives and Records Management O.L. Voinov at the National Press Center
On October 3, 2023, a press conference dedicated to Archivist Day was held at the National Press Center of the Republic of Belarus.
The press conference was attended by Director of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Department) O.L. Voinov, Deputy Director of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as NARB) E.A. Stukanova and director of the Belarusian Scientific Research Institute of Documentation and Archives A.E. Rybakov.
In his speech, the Director of the Department spoke about the challenges facing state archival institutions in the current period and shared the plans they face in the coming year.
He informed those present about the structure of the archival industry, indicated that state archival institutions operate within the framework of the State Program “Culture of Belarus” (subprogram “Archives of Belarus”) and the State Program “Digital Development of Belarus”.
The main directions in the activities of state archival institutions are:
– formation of the National Archival Fund of the Republic of Belarus;
– ensuring the safety of archival documents;
– creation of a scientific reference apparatus for archival documents;
– use of archival information.
The Director of the Department emphasized that archives are changing rapidly today. It is of paramount importance that archival institutions are centers of patriotic education, as well as institutions of national memory.
Deputy Director of NARB E.A. Stukanova spoke about the sources of acquisition of the archive (republican government bodies, state and non-state organizations, public associations, political parties), exhibition activities, the work of the reading room, and the implementation of publication projects.
One of the most important issues being addressed by NARB is increasing the accessibility of archival documents, including via the Internet.
As part of this, E.A. Stukanova focused on the joint project with the publishing house “Belarus Today”, the Internet portal “Partisans of Belarus”, as well as the Internet project “Belarusian villages burned during the Great Patriotic War”.
It was especially noted that the scientific direction of activity is actively developing at NARB, conferences and round tables are held, including the “Archival Dialogue” conference.
In addition to the above, the director of the Department noted that each archive is unique in its own way, talking about the specifics of the NARB, the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo and Audio Documents, the Belarusian State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art, and the Belarusian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation.
The combination of resources from all state archives leads to an integrated approach to covering national history.
Director of BelNIIDAD A.E. Rybakov informed journalists that the institute faces a whole range of tasks within the framework of those areas of the archival industry that were mentioned above.
A.E. Rybakov particularly focused on the issue of establishing interaction between territorial and state archives, ensuring that valuable documents that fall into territorial archives could be transferred to permanent storage.
The director of BelNIIDAD devoted significant space in his speech to issues of electronic documents, including their archival storage.
In addition to the above, the Director of the Department noted that issues related to electronic documents are extremely complex. Participating in the work of the Advisory Council of Heads of Archive Services of the CIS Member States on September 21-22, 2023, he noted that there is no common understanding on this issue.
Separately, the Director of the Department focused on new projects being implemented in the domestic archival industry.
Among these projects, the new project “Open Film Archive”, the project “Archives for Schools”, the preparation of virtual exhibitions, as well as exhibitions on stands (showcases) are highlighted, implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture. “Cities of Belarus”, competition “Best Reading Room”, television project “Open Access”, created by the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo and Sound Documents and the First Channel of Belarusian Television and etc.
The website“Documentary Chronicle of Belarus”created this year was especially noted. The main goal of the project is educational work in terms of presenting on the Internet a complete and objective information picture of the history of Belarusian statehood based on primary sources – documents of the National Archival Fund of the Republic of Belarus, ensuring an inextricable historical connection and continuity of generations of the Belarusian people, as well as increasing civic consciousness.
Among the publication projects, the Ministry of Justice, together with the Belarusian Telegraph Agency, has prepared a new collection of archival documents“Archives. Nothing but the truth. The presentation of this publication took place on July 6, 2023
In conclusion, O.L. Voinov emphasized that today Belarusian archivists are those about whom it can be said that they are “so few, but responsible for so much.” There are a little more than 1000 archivists, but they preserve the history of Belarus, they are responsible for it.
In the second part of the press conference, O.L. Voinov, E.A. Stukanova and A.E. Rybakov answered questions from journalists.
