Access to the archives in the digital era

experiences and problems

28th conference of the European Board of National Archives (EBNA), 15th meeting of the European Archives Group (EAG), 8-9th October 2013, Vilnius

Władysław Stępniak, the Head Office of the State Archives, Poland

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Diagnosis – a number of obvious facts

• The fundamental task of the modern archives: to preserve and sharebut ...• These tasks have been developing over the centuries due to:- changing attitude as regards whom the archives are to serve (administration?, authorities?, science?, everyone?)- changes in user expectations resulting therefrom

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Changing group of users and beneficiaries

• The Archives are no longer a temple of knowledge for professionals who are perfectly prepared to carry out their work independently, are able to use conventional archive aids, and understand the context and content of the shared material• In the last decades of the last century, non-professional users have dominated the total number of archives’ users

Non-professional user• does not know the resource archive

storage system nor its structure• is unable to effectively use the existing

archive aidsis not always able to find the needed documents (information) by himself/herself

• is not always able to read and understand the contents of found documents

• however, not only does he/she not care, but also expects a substantial and prompt assistance from the archive’s employees

Will the digital era change anything in this regard?(as regards the access to archival

content)• This is a rhetoric question: of course it will and more or less we already know what will change; what we do not know is just how fast and to what extent.• The problem of changes can be perceived in two groups of issues: - Access to archival materials produced in the pre-digital era (recorded on analog media) - Access to archival materials produced in electronic format (born digital) http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Digitalization of analog content

• In Poland, the process of digitalization of materials produced before the emergence of information and communication technologies (ICT), as well as elsewhere, proceeded in two stages:Stage 1: digitization of archive aids (and making them available online)Stage 2: digitization of archival materials (and making them available online)

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Stage 1 - digitization of archive aids • entering the existing analog aids to

databases• developing new aids solely in digital

form• rendering archive aids available

onlineIn Poland, due to the centralized state archives management system, we adopted the principle of a centralized and integrated presentation of archival information owned by the state archives; other archives, museums, and libraries are encouraged to introduce this principle as well.

Stage 2 – digitization of archival

materials • developing digital copies of archival

materials• attaching them to the aids posted

online and related problems:- copyright protection- protection of personal data and property

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Posting materials online and non-professional users • casual or one-time users or users that are

difficult to identify (anonymous)• completely ignorant of the structure of

archival resources and principles of archival description

• focused on fast and efficient retrieval of information

• having new information-related habits and needs shaped by the use of Google

These are the users who cannot be underestimated, since they account for a

huge, increasingly growing group of users

Conclusions • Serious reservations as regards the

current system of archival description and access to archival information. Is it:- suitable for modern user and will it be suitable for future users- adequate to completely new opportunities offered by new technologiesbut ...• Not everything can be made available to anyone on the Internet- Mechanisms of digital identification and controlled access are necessary

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

End of archives as a sole file administrator

• Amendments to the DIRECTIVE 2013/37/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 June 2013 amending Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information. Including museums, libraries and archives in the Directive.

• The Archives must recognize that the proper use of archival resources can improve the citizens’ market potential.

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Legal issues vs. practice• It is obvious that not all digitized material can be

posted online (due to copyright and personal data protection), and this translates into a number of practical problems: determining the authorship (audiovisual materials

developed by many authors ), the problem of orphan works determining whether the person the data pertain to is still

alive (personal data protection) determining whether making the data available is not

detrimental to one’s personal interests (even if the data pertain to a deceased person)

determining whether a person who asks for rendering personal data available is the very person the data pertain to

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What should be changed in the hitherto used approach ?

• align the capabilities of information search (and consequently, the description) with the expectations of Internet users, i.e. implement searching methods that are clear and easy (i.e. intuitive) for them

• but does it mean that it has to be like with Google or ... just like with Google, but even better

Therefore, it is necessary to develop share-supporting software. The question is how it

should look like. Apart from obvious features, such as fast, reliable, safe…

A few additional requirements concerning the software (as of

today)• It should ensure the possibility of additional ordering

of documents in a new way (while keeping the "old" schemes, too).

• It should enable crowdsourcing as a mechanism aimed to:  - facilitate the Internet community to share knowledge (also the users can enrich the archival descriptions)- indirectly encourage to participate in the culture – in the development of local virtual communities associating specific categories of users around their interests

• It should enable the ad-hoc development of virtual presentations created based on searches conducted within a single, specific issue (e.g. anniversary presentations focused on a single issue, regardless of the collocation of searched files)

A few additional requirements concerning

the software (as of tomorrow)• Intelligent systems able to "learn" how to provide support to new users in their search based on queries of their predecessors

• Enabling full-text search in any kind of text (including manuscripts)

• Automatic analysis of documents for extracting content, dates, recipients and authors

• What else? Today, we may not even be aware of the possibilities that ICT can bring about in 10 or 50 years.

To ensure this, even the best system has to be fed with a source data – and you can’t do that „just

like that”

If you can’t do something at once… (case of Poland)

• Polish solution (and not only Polish) as regards non-digitalized materials is aimed to meet the expectations of users and their new working methods while in archives (saving time and being in rush)

allowing users to self-copy the found materials in reading rooms with their own equipment and free of charge

in reading rooms, rendering available safe and user-friendlydevices for self-copying(development plan)

Premise of this decision• The development of electronic devices owned by

the users, ensuring secure copying (such as mobile phones, digital cameras)

• A new model of users’ work on archival material - no time to work in the archives, quick copying and work with copies outside the archives

• Enforcing the ban on self-copying creates tension in relations with users equipped in the twenty-first century devices

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Decision outcome• Decrease in the number of orders for

copies• Assigning available human resources to

other tasks (e.g., preparing resources to share online)

• Archives’ customer satisfaction• Building a friendly image of the archives

(Still) new issue:born digital content vs.

access• The expected increase in the role of archives as an

institution of public trust, since such issues as: ensuring the authenticity of content, ensuring invariance in the location within context ensuring content availability

in permanently changing technological conditions may require support provided by a trusted, reliable organization that implements specific procedures, not mere technologies.

Are the security measures implemented only through the use of technology (e.g. electronic signature and/or time-

stamping technologies) sufficient?

Questions for the future

• Can all analog content be successfully digitalized and uploaded on the Internet in a planned and scheduled manner?

• Does such a need even exist?• Can we calculate the cost of rendering content

available in large networks, including the long time perspective?

• Will archive budgets withstand this challenge?• Shall the access to archived data posted online be

free of charge?• Should we strive towards the integration of

information, especially archival, library and museum-related one?

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Thank you for your attention!

http://archiwa.gov.pl/

Władysław StępniakPolish State Archives