Archiving of Digital Documents in Poland

Abstract

Purpose: The research purpose was defined as tracing the history of digitising Polish authorities and the records they generated. These phenomena produced the natural consequence of a need to develop methods of archiving electronic records in Poland. Method/approach: The historical – and, primarily, historical-and-political system-based – method was applied. Legislative acts and related commentary treatments were analysed. Results: The history and circumstances of digitising the Polish administrative-and-office setting, a process begun in the 1990s, was reenacted. While parallel to similar efforts initiated in Western Europe, it was certainly slower and more chaotic. Only Poland's accession to the European Union in 2004 would bring acceleration and certain order to action taken by Polish authorities and historical archives. These attempts were crowned with the 2020 opening of the Electronic Documents Archive for use. Conclusions/findings: While the digital revolution may seem swift, its impact on Polish authorities was slow and evolutionary in nature, multiple solutions proving delayed, others failed. Some might have made the process of digitising authorities more difficult rather than easier. While historical archives seem to be well-prepared for the effort of archiving electronic records, many related uncertainties prevail. All the while, Polish authorities have only digitised a part of their operations – it remains unknown whether hard copy documents will ever go out of common use.