Providing access to information by regional archives of the South of Ukraine

Abstract

Introduction. In view of the actively-developing informatization, the main objective is to provide the society with complete and objective information through the Internet. Providing users with a broad, including remote, access to archival information plays a special part in this context. Discovering the current state of this issue will contribute to determining the implementation of the main tasks of the informatization by the archive facilities. The informatization of archives is a research question in the studies of national historians, source scholars, archivists, specialists in information, such as G. Boriak, M. Vasylchenko, O. Haranin, L. Dubrovina, A. Kyseliova, N. Korzhyk, N. Kuzovova, T. Kuprunets, N. Menkivska, K. Novokhatskyi, L. Yudina et al. Topicality and Objective. The study of the issue on providing users with an access to archival information will help to understand the opportunities, the role of archives in the implementation of the disclosure of archival resources for distant user service. The purpose of the article is to study the activities of the state archive facilities in the South of Ukraine on providing access to archival information in the present-day conditions. Methods. In the course of the study, the following methods were applied: scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, and webometric method of analysis of the websites of the regional state archive facilities in the South of Ukraine. Results. The authors seek to determine the main directions of activity of the regional state archive facilities in the South of Ukraine relating to the informatization of archives. The main types of new electronic resources of the archive facilities are: websites with new content, electronic guides, electronic case descriptions, on-line exhibitions of archival documents, publications on the site (on the basis of archival files), online newsletters, electronic copies of some of the most valuable documents in the sections «Pages of History», document digitization projects (Project «Metrics»), etc. Conclusion. As a result, the study determines modern approaches to the work of the archive facilities in the South of Ukraine in the context of providing access to archival information with the use of information and computer technologies. A positive trend of increasing role of the archives in the society is clearly in evidence: in helping to protect the socio-economic rights through requests to archival institutions, in organizing research work in reading halls of the archive facilities, in increasing the volumes of archival electronic resources for better provision of various groups of users with archival information. It promotes the popularization of historical and cultural heritage of the region, and the formation of a national consciousness of Ukrainian citizens. Looking ahead, the study of new approaches to the arrangement of unrestricted access for real and potential users to archival information seems possible.