The book The system of archive information in Poland. History, infrastructure,
standards and methods covers the issues constituting the information science and
archive studies. Archive information is an especially important area of interest for
both disciplines. Archives play an important role in the world of science and information,
and guarantee the storage of documents for a long period of time. Archive
studies use the achievements of the information science for creating the workshops
of an archive work, mainly for designing archive aids. The system of archive information
was formed in order to provide the appropriate ways of gathering and storing
as well as making archive materials available. In the very system the documentation
has to maintain its reliability, duration in time, availability and secrecy, where
necessary. The aim of the archive is to maintain authentic and authenticated information
with its context to be able to use the appropriate information for particular
purposes. In order to interpret documents, as early as at the stage of historical
studies, one needs knowledge. Archives, as the institutions of culture and science,
guard historical knowledge, prepare well-processed information on archive materials
to make searching of the documents fast and easy.
The book consists of five chapters. Chapter one starts from bringing the history
of archive information closer. A social role of archives was noticed as early as in
the Ancient times. The very chapter introduces the development of archives from
time immemorial, the functioning of archives in the Polish People’s Republic and
the formation of the Subsystem of Archive Information as an element of the National
System of Science, Technology and Organization Information. The next stage
of the formation of the system of archive information was after 1989 when the informational
network of archives developed. The next chapter thoroughly describes
the organizational-functional structure of the system of archive information. Such
elements of the system of archive information as the informational resource of archives,
organization of the supervision over an increasing resource, informational
aids and tools used in the system of archive information were discussed. A critical analysis of existing archive aids, with an emphasis on necessary changes in this
field, was conducted. This chapter finishes with a discussion on the subject-matter
of the informational infrastructure of archives in a global economy. Chapter three
examines the actions of the users in the system of archive information, as well as
the role of archivists in the scientific communication to be observed especially when
making archive materials available. Chapter four covers standards and methods of
preparing archive documentation. Contemporary problems of archive information
are above all the subject of the activity of national archives, both at the theoretical
and practical level. National archives guarantee the maintenance of the proper quality
information. Thus, the methodology of preparing archive and the informational
activity of archives so far, including database used in national archives were discussed.
Also, the chapters bringing the issue of the standard description of archive
materials were prepared. Chapter five illustrates the system of archive information
from the point of view of a supervision over an increasing archive resource. The
very problem is also referred to as managing documentation and its main aim is to
use the classification. The very chapter closes with a discussion of changes happening
in the office staff and its competences in the context of informatisation of public
administration. Administrative work requires a constant formation of new tools
and methods of management when creating different types of documents, which is
not uninfluential on the shape of the system of archive information
