Records Management in Post-Soviet Russia.

• Author: STEPHENS, DAVID O.

Editor's Note: Readers of this journal may recall two articles on records management in the Soviet Union that appeared in 1993. This article continues where its predecessors left off -- with a discussion of records management in post-Soviet Russia.

To address this subject with firsthand knowledge, it was necessary to collaborate with someone who plays a key role in developing records management principles and practices throughout Russia. Dr. Michail V. Larin, director since 1993 of VNIIDAD, the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Documentation and Archival Matter, is such a person. VNIIDAD is the central records management office of Rosarchiv, the Federal Archival Service of the Russian government. Concerning VNIIDAD's work, Dr. Larin wrote: "Our institute continues its activity in spite of all the difficulties our country is suffering now ..."

In the interview format that follows, Dr. Larin describes the current situation in his own words. Readers should note that some editorial liberties have been taken to make the sentences more comprehensible to North American readers. I have, I trust, been faithful to Dr. Larin's meaning.

Dr. Larin's contributions were excellent; this article could not have been written without them, and I wish to express here my sincere appreciation to him.

Q Generally, what has happened to records management in Russia during the years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union?

After the USSR's collapse and the creation of new state structures, the organizational level of records management deteriorated due to loss of some rules and traditions. At present there is a lack of practical normative and legal regulations in records management in Russia. In governmental bodies, the records management problems are rather urgent. The training and postgraduate education of records managers has declined, and appropriate training manuals are not available. Scientific research on documentation science is at a standstill. The vocational and scientific institutions with qualified specialists in records management are currently in a state of dissociation.

The several records management systems elaborated by VNIIDAD during the Soviet era (including EGSD -- the General State System of Documentation, and the General State System for Records Management) are not used at this time. Our society has changed its attitude towards records as the basis for any administrative action. This situation is the result of several factors: renovation of government ministries' staffs, elimination of long-standing bureaucratic traditions, and loss of traditional methods of records handling. There is a transformation in the value of records and their role in management due to the application of new technology, new market-oriented economic systems, and the instability associated with them.

Despite these changes in Russian society, VNIIDAD contends that effective organization of records management systems can be an important foundation of Russian government operation, as well as a substantial element of its stability. Moreover, VNIIDAD estimates that records and information use constitutes 60 percent to 90 percent of total administrative activity among Russian organizations. This underscores records management's importance in bringing greater efficiencies and stability to organizations in Russia.

In this new environment, Russia's records management systems are adopting new and different goals so that they may operate at a new level. Among the most important changes are:

1. Managers now aim to build more effective organizations based on market systems and profit opportunities, using the new marketing and advertising systems being introduced into Russian enterprises. Competition has stimulated the need for new information systems that can help organizations respond better to market pressures, particularly in the banking and financial sectors of the Russian economy. Thus, records...