Strategy of creation of digital archives accessible through the Internet

摘要

The paper describes a methodology we use to translate an existing conventional archive into a digital one. The method does well for large archives comprising documents with essential graphic constituent (handwritten texts, photographs, drawings, etc.). Main structural components of our digital archive are relational database and image bank which are physically separated but logically linked together. The components make up three-level distributed structure consisting of primary archive, its regional replicas, and various secondary archives (among them subsets presented in the Web and collections of compact discs). Only authorizes user are allowed to access two upper levels, and the bottom level is open for free public access. A secondary archive is created and updated automatically without special development. Such construction allows us to combine reliable storage, easy access and protection of intellectual property. The paper also presents several digital archives already implemented in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences.