The Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry held an extended board meeting

On 23 January 2019 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 work by the archives and records agencies and the state archival institutions in the Republic of Belarus in 2018 and to set up the objectives for 2019.
Participators at the board meeting were First Deputy Minister for Justice S. Zadiran, heads and deputy heads of the main justice boards at the regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, directors of the state archives and members of the Department for Archives and Records Management.
Victor Kourash, Director of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Justice Ministry delivered a report. Directors of the state archives and members of the Main Justice Administration participated in the debates.
In 2018 the state archival institutions participated in the Sub-Programme “Archives of Belarus” as part of the 2016-2020 State Programme “Culture of Belarus”. Much attention was paid to strengthening the material and technical basis of the state archives, introduction of modern information technologies, improvement of public services provided to citizens and organizations, social protection of citizens etc. A new building was opened for the Local State Archives in Slutsk (Minsk Region).
As on 1 January 2019, the state archives in Belarus hold 47 781 fonds, 12 911 311 storage items, 45 970 film records, 266 604 photographic records, 21 250 sound records, 6 323 video records, 13 fonds of electronic records, 740 items of electronic records, and 781 museum items. 1 183 400 storage items are being preserved in 122 local archives.

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 58 633 fonds (record groups) preserved, transferred, unified and lost.

In 2018 the Department for Archives and Records Management worked out the Plan of Actions for Archival Preservation of Electronic Records in the Republic of Belarus, ratified by First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus A. G. Turchin.

By 1 October 2020, according to the Plan of Actions, the government agencies and other institutions can start implement archival preservation of electronic records.

An important sphere of activity is informational support of citizens and execution of social and legal inquiries. In 2018 the state archives performed 269 genealogical requests, 11 637 biographical and 2 721 thematic requests, 20 080 social and legal inquiries. 73 official heraldic symbols were included in the State Heraldry Register of the Republic of Belarus.

In 2018 the state archival institutions released seven collections of published documents, four guide books, three research works and one historical documentary chronicle, and prepared 99 exhibitions of documents.