Recently the Slovak Ministry of Interior define its strategy for the protection of archival documents stored in the State archive of the Government. Concerning this, the two most important legal acts influencing the shape of the future activities of Slovak state archives have been:
- The Strategy for the Protection of Archival Documents for 2022 – 2026 (approved by Resolution of the Government of the Slovak Republic No. 455 of 13 July 2022).
- The National Concept for the Development of State Archives with an Outlook to 2028 (adopted by The Government of the Slovak Republic in Resolution No. 456 of 13 July 2022).
The Strategy for the preservation of archival documents has identified the following priorities under the primary objective of preserving archival heritage and developing state archives:
- Digitisation of state archives
- Modernisation of state archives
- Modernisation of the process of conservation and restoration of archival documents.
The Strategy document contains an analysis of the current condition of state archives that manage archival heritage. The tasks that need to be addressed in the field of preservation of archival documents are thoroughly elaborated in the National Concept for the Development of State Archives with an Outlook to 2028.
The National Concept for the Development of State Archives elaborates on the following strategic priorities in addition to the digitization of archival documents:
- computerization of state archives and new modern technologies;
- efficiency of access to archival documents;
- productivity tracking system;
- saving archival documents from degradation;
- protection of information contained in archival documents from destruction (e.g. war conflict, natural disasters, etc.).
The National Concept for the Development of State Archives with an Outlook to 2028 also assesses the current condition of state archives and conveys that no funds have been invested in the modernization and development of state archives for decades.
It is important to say that comprehensive protection of archival documents extends to all areas of professional archival activities and is also linked to and conditioned by the quality of the archive’s spatial possibilities and the development of new preservation and information technologies. Furthermore, this protection is inevitably linked to applied research and interdisciplinary cooperation in the field of research into the degradation of materials, microbiological research, and research into conservation and restoration methodologies.
The state archives are the mainstay of science, education, and the culture of states; they are among the major agents of public administration and the wealth of information stored in them is a guarantee of legal continuity and the memory of the nation. Archives are the backbone of the rule of law and provide the documentation of Slovakian history for future generations of its Slovakian citizens.
One of the means how to better fulfill these goals is to improve the services for the citizen by the digitization of relevant content, the transformation of the procedure of processing new content into digital form and the gradual transition to purely digital coverage of the life cycle of archival documents. Making digitized archival documents accessible will also serve in the future as a basis for accelerating innovation and modern technological trends that will build on the datasets made available.
