The Department for Archives and Records Management held an extended board meeting
On 26 January 2017 the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry of the Republic of Belarus held an extended board meeting to review the results of the archives and records agencies and the state archival institutions in 2016 and to set the objectives for 2017.
Attending the meeting were Deputy Minister for Justice I. Tushinsky, heads and deputy heads of the main justice boards at the regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, heads of the structural divisions for archives and records management, directors of the state archival institutions, members of the Department for Archives and Records Management. In all, 65 people attended the meeting.
Deputy Director of the Department for Archives and Records Management O. Biryukova delivered a report. The directors of the state archival institutions and local representatives participated in the debates.
In 2016 the state archival institutions participated in the implementation of the Archives of Belarus Sub-Programme of the Culture of Belarus State Programme for 2016-2020. Much attention was paid to strengthening the logistics of the state archival institutions, the introduction of modern information technologies, the improvement of services provided to institutions and citizens, the solution of problems related to social security of citizens.
As on 1 January 2017, the state archives in Belarus hold 48,376 fonds of 12,755,135 paper records; 13 fonds of 666 storage units of electronic records; 41,876 film records; 259,810 photographic records; 19,895 sound records; 5,255 video records; 764 museum items. 75 new fonds have been inventoried in 2016.
The database of the republic-level state information resource – the State Fonds Catalogue of the National Archival Holdings of the Republic of Belarus – includes data on 60,672 fonds preserved, transferred, unified and lost.
The important sphere of activities is the provision of information services to customers and the execution of social and legal inquiries. In 2016 the state archives handled 376 genealogical inquiries, 2,874 subject inquiries, 18,548 biographical inquiries, and 26,135 social and legal inquiries. About 10,000 people visited the archives in person. 107 new official heraldic symbols have been added to the State Heraldry Register of the Republic of Belarus.
In 2016 the state archival institutions released 15 published editions, including eight compendiums of documents, five directories and two periodicals, prepared 78 exhibitions of documents.