Managing and Presenting Digital Content in the ARHiNET System

ARHiNET is a network information system for describing, processing and managing archival records created in 2006 by the Croatian State Archives and Avicena Software Company. It is a national archival system in Croatia, recognized by the Ministry of Culture as national project, as well as part of the e- Croatia program, the operational plan of the Government of the Republic of Croatia. Development of the archival information and institutions network is a long-term strategic archival service project and ARHiNET implementation enhanced the standardization of the archival institutions work, and enabled establishment of a unique system of processing and description of archival material, as well as data integration and exchange between the institutions that keep archival records. All archives in Croatia are included in the implementation of this unique archival information system that comprises all business processes in archival institutions, together with some other records holders under the state archives supervision. Currently, there are about 700 registered users from more than 150 institutions. Designing, realization, introduction, use, maintenance and development of such a complex program solution enclose permanent activities on system improvement, finding new functionalities and solutions, as well as upgrading of the present ones. During the three years of the system operating, more than 300 versions of program solutions have been developed and put in production, and experiences gained from work and user education led to the development of the version 2.0 that was released in February 2009. In this article authors present solutions and functionalities concerning managing, indexing and presentation of digital content developed and implemented within the ARHiNET program solution