Central State Electronic Archives of Ukraine

The Central State Electronic Archive of Ukraine (hereinafter – CSEA of Ukraine) was established in accordance with the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of May 12, 2007 No. 279-R to solve the problems of state storage of electronic heritage and integration of Ukrainian archives into the world information space, due to modern realities of scientific and technological progress and unprecedented growth in the volume of digital information in all areas of activity. CSEA of Ukraine is one of the youngest among state archives and at the same time – the only specialized archival institution in Ukraine that performs the function of storing documents in electronic form, in particular, electronic documents, electronic information resources as well as digital copies of documents of the national archival fund created for a centralized fund of use. Implementing the tasks and functions of the state to replenish the national archival fund, the CSEA of Ukraine performs work on the preservation of electronic documentation, which is important for reproducing truthful and objective information about the modern history of our state, legal protection of citizens’ interests. Main tasks of the CSEA of Ukraine:

participation in the implementation of state policy in the field of archival affairs and management;
ensuring that the CSEA of Ukraine is equipped with documents of the National Archival Fund, their accounting and storage, and the use of information contained in them;
participation in the preparation of regulatory legal acts, scientific and methodological developments on the introduction of electronic document management, storage of electronic documents and use of their information;
ensuring the implementation of citizens’ rights to free access to information contained in archival documents.

The CSEA of Ukraine is equipped with documents in electronic form, electronic information resources in the form of databases and websites created in the activities of state bodies, institutions, enterprises, organizations, including those that are in the process of reorganization or liquidation.

As of 20.12.2020, the archive has created 32 funds consisting of the following documents:

electronic information resources (217 items);
documents of personal origin in electronic form (1498 items);
photo documents in electronic form (160 items);
video documents in electronic Form (4 items);
documents in electronic form (67 items).

The archive contains collections of websites dedicated to the presidential, parliamentary and local elections in Ukraine in 2010-2019, the Chernobyl disaster, the Ukrainian diaspora in the world, the victory over Nazism in Europe, the holding of the Euro 2012 football championship in Ukraine, the immortal heritage of T. Shevchenko, Revolution of dignity 2013-2014. Information about prominent figures of Ukrainian history, science and culture (I. Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, M. Hrushevsky, M. Amosova, M. Kartseva etc.) contain archival copies of the websites of the collection «Pride of Ukraine». A valuable source for studying the ethnic history of Ukraine, material and spiritual achievements of Ukrainians in the treasury of world cultural heritage are thematic complexes of electronic information resources included in the archival collections «UNESCO World Heritage in Ukraine», «Local lore and folk art of Ukraine” and «Cultural heritage of Ukraine».

CSEA of Ukraine cooperates with a wide range of representatives from science, education, culture, public figures to transfer their own documents created in electronic form (e-mail correspondence, electronic manuscripts, diaries, pages in electronic reference books and social networks, digital photo, audio and video documents, etc.). The archive contains 3 funds of personal origin of outstanding Ukrainians of our time (P. Trymbach, V. Petushchak and A. Kuzmenko), which are still being completed. On February 26, 2020, the CSEA of Ukraine organized an open meeting with the Valery Petushchak – Ukrainian traveler, scientist, writer, whose personal origin fund is kept in the archive. During the event, Valery Petushchak solemnly handed over photo documents of personal origin to the CSEA of Ukraine, signed a donation agreement and an act of acceptance and transfer of about 100 documents of personal origin for value examination, and presented an online exhibition «to the 80th anniversary of the Ukrainian traveler, scientist, writer Valerii Petushchak».

Taking into account the innovative nature of the activities of the CSEA of Ukraine, the archive conducts extensive scientific and methodological work and provides methodological assistance to state archival institutions, archival departments of city councils, enterprises, institutions, organizations of various forms of ownership in working with electronic documents and their archival storage. Director of the CSEA of Ukraine Yurii Kovtaniuk held a number of seminars on the organization of work with electronic documents in workflow management and their preparation for transfer to archival storage for employees of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine (CSAMLA of Ukraine), the State Archive of the Kiev region, the State Archive of the Ternopil region, the Yaroslav the wise National Library of Ukraine, National Aviation University, employees of office services of legal entities and archival institutions of the Cherkasy region, etc. Employees of the CSEA of Ukraine have repeatedly won the prize for the competition of scientific and methodological developments and scientific and informational works in archival science, document science, and archeography. In general:

participated in about 40 international scientific and practical seminars, conferences, forums;
about 60 scientific and methodological topics have been developed;
more than 40 scientific publications have been published, the most significant of which are: Concept of planning the life cycle of electronic documents and Concept of informatization of archival affairs;
participated in the preparation of about 20 draft legislative and regulatory acts, including: the law of Ukraine «On electronic trust services», the Rules of work of archival institutions of Ukraine, the Procedure for working with electronic documents in workflow management and their preparation for transfer to archival storage, the Standard instruction for documenting management information in electronic form and organizing work with electronic documents in workflow management, electronic interdepartmental exchange, Requirements for electronic document management data formats in public authorities, the Procedure for receiving and transferring electronic documents of the National Archive Fund of Ukraine for permanent storage (as of December 2020 is on approved by the Ministry of Justice).

Separately, the Georgian non-governmental organization «The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)» in partnership with international scientists conducted a study within the framework of the project «Assessment of the openness of State Archives in the post-Soviet republics and Eastern Bloc countries» in 2019-2020, which resulted in the publication of the article «Openness of State Archives in Post-Soviet Republics and Eastern Bloc States During the Coronavirus Pandemic», which contains a link to «methodological recommendations on labor protection for employees of archival institutions during quarantine and after its cancellation», which were recommended by Ukrderzharhiv for accounting in the work of archival institutions, in the development of which the Director of the CSEA of Ukraine Yurii Kovtaniuk and the Chief Specialist of the Department of ensuring the safety and accounting of documents Perederii Nataliia together with employees of the State Archival Service of Ukraine, The Ukrainian Research Institute of Archival Affairs and Records Keeping, NGO «Union of archivists of Ukraine». These guidelines were developed on the basis of the labor protection Instruction No. 7 «On actions during quarantine» (during COVID-19), which the CSEA of Ukraine was firstly prepared among archival institutions in early 2020.

CSEA of Ukraine organized a number of round tables and international conferences, among which international scientific and practical conferences remained more memorable and the annual round table was launched in cooperation with other archival institutions, The Ukrainian Research Institute of Archival Affairs and Records Keeping, under the auspices of the Union of Archivists of Ukraine:

Employees of the CSEA of Ukraine, within the framework of international cooperation, completed internships in archival institutions in Poland took part in international seminars and conferences.

On September 26-29, 2017, Director of the CSEA of Ukraine Yurii Kovtaniuk took part in the VII International Seminar «Faces of memory. The latest technologies for preserving and restoring handwritten and printed heritage», which was held at the Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts named after Mesrop Mashtots «Matenadaran» (Yerevan, Armenia), with the assistance of the Tourism Development Fund of the Republic of Armenia, where he made a report «The experience of Ukrainian archivists in using information technologies to ensure the safety of archival documents and their restoration».

The CSEA of Ukraine takes an active part in the introduction of the latest technologies: the functioning of the mail server of the departmental e-mail of the Ukrderzharhiv in the domain zone arch.gov.ua was ensured; the functioning of the web server of the Ukrgosarchiv web portal and the website of archival institutions in the domain zone archives.gov.ua was ensured; the functioning of the departmental electronic document management system of the Ukrderzharhiv (ASCOD) was ensured; a number of web services were created on the official web portal of the Ukrderzharhiv: « NAF unique documents», «Public Information Accounting System of the Ukrderzharhiv», «Ukrainian martyrologist of the XX century», «archival materials returned and transferred to Ukraine». And also on the official website of the CSEA of Ukraine:«metric books of the State Archive of Donetsk region», «archival documents of the fund R6_GSK »reports of the operational group Stumpp”; the functioning of the website scientific and practical journal «Archives of Ukraine» was ensured, which allowed by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine from November 26, 2020 № 1471 «on approval of decisions of the attestation Board of the Ministry of November 26, 2020 and amendments to the orders of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine from July 2, 2020 № 886, from September 24, 2020 №. 1188» include this journal in the list of scientific professional publications of Ukraine, «B» category, in the specialty 029 «Social communication», which provides for the publication of materials on information and archival affairs (more details on the official web portal of Ukrderzharhiv);

27.02.2014 for the first time in the Ukrainian archival practice at the exhibition of photo-, archival documents and materials «on the eternal path to Taras (1814-1861)», held in the premises of the CSAMLA of Ukraine, unique archival documents were presented on the touch screen. With the help of the software developed by specialists of the CSEA of Ukraine, interactive viewing of documents presented at the exhibition was provided on a large touch screen, which provided visitors with the functions of maximum approximation and flipping through the pages of works, drawings and unique documents about the life and work of the great Kobzar.

For the first time in the history of archival affairs of Ukraine:

storage of documents in the form of Electronic Information Resources has been started, in particular, archival collections of archival copies of websites are being created;
according to the decision of the Central expert Verification Commission, in 2015, personal funds that contain only documents of personal origin in electronic form were created;
with the assistance of the CSEA of Ukraine in 2015, the Central State Archive of Higher Authorities and Management of Ukraine (CSAHAM of Ukraine) accepted an archival electronic file in the form of an electronic information resource (Ukrinform news feed for 2001-2010), which was transferred for storage to the CSEA of Ukraine;
acceptance of content from social networks, in particular Facebook, for storage has begun.

In the CSEA of Ukraine an access to information about relevant documents is carried out through the placement of online exhibitions on the official website and filling in the «Funds» section, where users have the opportunity to get acquainted with digital and full-text copies of fund descriptions 24/7. Also, more detailed information about profile documents can be found in the archive room using an automated workplace with access to the CSEA reference system of Ukraine. On the official website of the CGEA of Ukraine, there are constantly online exhibitions covering the content of archival copies of websites, photo, video, audio and other documents in electronic form stored in the archive. In 2021, it is planned to create an online exhibition of documents in electronic form on the history of Ukrainian football and update the following online exhibitions: -«Chernobyl disaster-pain of Ukraine» – on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster; – «on the occasion of the Constitution Day» – on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the approval of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Employees of the CSEA of Ukraine conduct interesting informational thematic seminars and professional development seminars for the archive staff: training seminar on Ukrainian spelling in 2019 with the use of prepared presentation materials conducted by the Chief Specialist of the Department of Formation of the National Archive Fund Naberezhnia Vita; – in 2020 the leading archivist of the Department of Ensuring the Preservation and Accounting of Documents, candidate of historical sciences Levchuk Olena held a lecture on the topic: «the state mission of Kiev of the princely era», which was dedicated to the Independence Day of Ukraine;- in November 2020 the leading archivist of the Department of Information Technologies Horbach Oleksandr held a training seminar on information security and reinstructed the user of the information and telecommunications system of the CSEA of Ukraine. In 2021, it is planned to hold a series of seminars on the areas of work of the Departments of the CSEA of Ukraine.

Annually, based on the results of the year, Ukrderzharhiv, Solomianska district state administration in Kyiv, the Union of Archivists of Ukraine and the leadership of the CSEA of Ukraine note the high professionalism of the archive staff, their conscience and significant contribution to the development of archival affairs. The best of them are awarded with certificates, commendations, letters of appreciation and valuable gifts.

Work should be coordinated with rest, so the staff of the CSEA of Ukraine organizes joint rest whenever possible, because as they say: the one who has a good rest works well. Every year, the staff of the CSEA of Ukraine, together with other archival institutions participated in the literary and artistic festival «Spring in Pliuty», together with the teams of the Central State Archive of Foreign Ukrainica (CSAFU), The Ukrainian Research Institute of Archival Affairs and Records Keeping (URIAARK) visited the memorable places of Chernihiv, Mount Totoha in the Bohuslav District of the Kiev region. Unforgettable impressions were formed during the excursion of the staff of the CSEA of Ukraine to the State Arboretum Park « Oleksandriya» of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, to the landscape park in the Buky village, Kiev region.

More photos

Speech by the Director of the CSEA of Ukraine Yurii Kovtaniuk at the International Scientific and Practical Conference «Archives in the modern world: challenges and tasks», December 7, 2017. (MP4, 169,5 Mb)