Solemn ceremony of initiation of young archivists – 2023
On August 24, 2024, a solemn ceremony of initiation of young archivists into the profession took place at the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus.
The action was held in this format for the first time and was timed to coincide with the Year of Peace and Creation. According to the results of the 2022-2023 academic year, the republican archival institutions accepted 28 graduates of higher educational institutions into their ranks.
Young specialists took part in the game «Acquaintance» and in an interactive tour of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus.
Heads of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus, the National Historical Archives of Belarus, the Belarusian State Archives of Film and Photo Documents, the Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art, the Belarusian State Archives of Scientific and Technical Documentation, the Belarusian Research Institute of Documentation and Archiving, the Belarusian Research Center for Electronic Documentation, Central Laboratory for Digitization of the Preservation of Documents of the National Archival Fund. The heads of the republican archival institutions spoke about their institutions, the composition of the documents stored in the archives, the specifics of the work of organizations.
The event was attended by the Director of the Department for Archives and Document Management Oleg Voinov.
The Director of the Department for Archives and Records Management noted in his speech that today state archival institutions not only ensure the safety of documentary heritage, but also act as historical and educational centers that promote historical truth to society.
The head of the archival service of Belarus stressed that at present the National Archival Fund comprises over 13,700,000 files.
One of the key directions in the development of the domestic archive industry has become the process of digital transformation, in which the main position is the digitization of archival documents. At the same time, the rate of digitization of documentary sources has a steady upward trend (1.23 million electronic pages were created in 2021, over 1.3 million electronic pages in 2022, and about 1.5 million electronic pages are planned to be created in 2023).
The Director of the Department for Archives and Office Management emphasized that along with projects that have been developing over the years, such as «Partisans of Belarus», «Belarusian villages burned during the Great Patriotic War», newly created ones are being implemented, including the Internet project « Documentary chronicle of Belarus», the industry virtual project «Cities of Belarus», the project «Biography of my country», the project «Open Film Archive», etc.
O.L.Voinov noted that in the implementation of these projects a significant role will be given to young specialists as the most creative people and having a new outlook on solving problems.
The Republican action «Archives-School», initiated by the Department for Archives and Records Management in 2022, is actively developing, which has become an effective tool for educational and ideological work. In total, about 1,200 events have been held to date, which were attended by more than 15 thousand schoolchildren and students.
As part of the «Archives-School» campaign, a new pilot project «Young Archivist» was launched, which will allow students of profile classes of a social and humanitarian orientation to study the history of their region in more depth.
O.L.Voinov especially noted the importance of publication projects.
In 2022, the implementation of the fundamental six-volume publication «Without a statute of limitations. Belarus: the crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices against the civilian population in the occupied territory of the BSSR during the Great Patriotic War. In 2023, together with the Belarusian Telegraph Agency, a new collection of archival documents «Archives. Nothing but the truth».
The deputy of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus S.M.Klishevich and the Chairman of the Republican Committee of the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers of State and Other Institutions S.V.Potapenko, who took part in the event, addressed the young archivists with the words of their wishes for success in their work, as well as on the whole life path.
In the final part of the event, new employees of the republican archival institutions took an oath of allegiance to archival work.
