Archiving of Electronic Records

Inta Feldmane

Directorate General of Latvia State Archives

The legal framework for archiving

• Law “On Archives”

• Electronic Documents Law

• Regulations for the Archiving of Documented Data Present within Information Systems and of Computerised Documents

• Regulations regarding the Manner of Evaluation of Electronic Documents, Procedures for the Storage thereof and Transfer to the State archive for Storage

• Personal Data Protection Law

Law “On Archives”state

• The National Archival Fonds of Latvia consists of documents originated in the process of national, economic, socio-political, social and cultural development of the Latvian nation and those national groups which have lived or still live in Latvia, and which contain information of value to the public, regardless of the place and time such documents were made or their method of perpetuation”

Electronic Documents Law state

• The Directorate General of Latvia State Archives shall be responsible for the evaluation and selection of electronic documents for long-term and permanent storage, and it shall also monitor that State and local government archives ensure the storage and accessibility of electronic documents

• The type of evaluation of electronic documents, and time periods for the transfer of such documents to State archives for storage shall be regulated by Cabinet

regulations

Regulations for the Archiving of Documented Data Present within Information Systems and of

Computerised Documents

• prescribe the primary legal, organisational and technical requirements for the archiving of information systems, and in accumulating and storing electronic documents within such systems, as well as the procedures by which the documents to be stored on a regular or permanent basis, and the resources of information registers or parts thereof shall be transferred to the custody of the State

Regulations recommend

• The evaluation of a system and the selection of electronic documents and data shall be performed at the design stage of the system or until the entering into of a software purchase contract at least four months before any use of the software within the system organisation

• The system organisation, the electronic documents of which have been selected for continuous or permanent keeping, shall accumulate and store the electronic documents and shall be responsible for the security and protection thereof until transfer into State custody.

Regulations recommend

• to use Baltic–1257 or UCS codes and platform-independent file formats for the electronic documents and data selected for keeping on a regular or permanent basis:

- for structured text - SGML(XML);

- for graphical information – JPEG or TIFF;

- for vector graphics – CGM; and

- for audio information and video information – MPEG II. • Computerised documents shall be transferred to State custody within

the terms specified in the agreement referred to in Paragraph 12 of these Regulations, as well as in cases where the system or system

organisation is being reorganised or liquidated

Regulations regarding the Manner of Evaluation of Electronic Documents, Procedures for the Storage

thereof and Transfer to the State archive for Storage

• prescribe the manner of evaluation of electronic documents, the procedures for the storage thereof, and the time periods for the transfer of such documents to the State archive for storage

• these regulations apply to State and local government institutions and legal persons, which pursuant to regulatory enactments shall transfer the electronic documents for to state archives

Regulations state

• In carrying out the intellectual analysis of an electronic documents, the functions (in accordance with the methods approved by the Cabinet regarding the performance of functional and institutional system analysis), activities and the content of the aggregate of documents related these shall be evaluated.

• In performing a technical analysis of the information system, the technical aspects related to the circulation of the electronic document (for example, technical compatibility, safety, integrity, and authenticity) shall be evaluated.

Regulations state

• An electronic document shall be evaluated at the stages of planning, design and introduction of an information system, during the process of the use and maintenance of the information system, as well as when transferring the

electronic document to the State archive for storage.

Regulations state

• In order to select the groups of documents to be transferred for storage into the State archive, the Office of the Director General of the State archive, in co-operation with institutions, shall evaluate the functions and classify them under the following categories of information systems:

• Category A – control functions of policy-making, co-ordination, supervision and the execution of operations (Category-A functions ):

• Category B – regulatory functions and functions of the supply of services (Category-B functions); and

• Category C – support functions (Category-C functions

Regulations state

• Category-A documents shall be accepted for permanent storage from Category-A information systems (documents created while performing a Category-A function) and Category-B documents (documents created while performing a category-B function) . Category-B documents shall be accepted for permanent storage from Category-B information systems, however Category-B documents shall be re-evaluated, taking into account the significance and the expenses of storage thereof, and the documents, which will be accepted for permanent and long-term storage shall be specified. Category-A documents shall be taken or a representative selection shall be made upon evaluation for permanent and long-term storage from Category-

C information systems

Regulations state

• The institution shall perform a control examination of the transfer of electronic documents at the request of the State archive, in order to ensure that the State archive will be able to read the electronic documents and data in the following cases:

• a first transfer is being performed from an information system;

• the equipment has been changed;• the configuration of the information system has been

changed; and• a one-time transfer of electronic documents is being

performed.

Regulations state

• An institution shall regularly, but not less often than once every five years copy the electronic documents to be transferred to the State archive for long-term and permanent storage or transfer them to new information medium. After copying the quality of the new copy shall be examined and the relevant documents shall again be

evaluated.

Organisational activities

• The archivists have investigated about 2000 information systems holders (ministries, State Revenue Service, courts and local governments)

• The archivists in cooperation with state agency specialists are appraising and selecting electronic data and documents for long term preservation

• A special repository has been equipped for storage of electronic records

• The process of acquisition of electronic records has been started• Common technical pattern for preservation of databases is in process

of development