Abstracts:

At the round table there were discussed two types of technologies of retroconversion that were executed together with State Archive of the Russian Federation.
1. Creation of electronic books in PDF format;
2. Creation of full-scale database – full retroconversion.
Technology of the first type is illustrated by the project of scanning and refinement of the handwritten diaries of Nicholas II.
The second type is illustrated by the project of creation a database that comprehend registers of two funds.
1. Extraordinary State Commission of investigation of the misdeeds of the Nazi invaders and their accessories, and the harm done by them to citizens, collective farms, social organizations, and state institutions of the USSR;
2. All-Union society of intercultural communication with foreign countries.
In the preamble the following questions were elucidated:
1. What is meant by ‘retroconversion’;
2. The main technologic operations:
Examination (preliminary research);
Working out a technology of document processing;
Indispensable stages of processing (scanning and indexing);
3. The advantages of the method – speed and quality of processing.
In the main part of the report:
1. The main reasons that cause archives to resort to retroconversion were explained:
· Expenses of keeping custody the documents.
· Physical ageing of the documents
· Time to find the documents
· Unauthorized access to the documents
2. The main results of retroconversion were described:
· Creation of database of super-scale bodies of documents.
· Creation of ‘Imaging systems’
· Creation of electronic books
3. There was given brief information about the center of retroconversion of the “Electronic Archive” corporation:
· The use of the up-to-date technologies,
· Quality guaranties,
· Proficiency and productivity.
Every above-stated point was illustrated by the examples of joint projects realized by “Electronic Archive” and State Archive of the Russian Federation.