WABIM 2025 – MKIDN - KONCEPCJA, CELE I ZDANIA

Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Program - Support for Polish Archives, Libraries, and Museums Abroad - 2025 Edition

Musical Recital commemorating 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising 1944

To catch up on recent updates, in today’s post we would like to introduce the concept and objectives of the project we are implementing this year, supported financially by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the Minister’s Scheme WABiM – Edition 2025.

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GOAL AND CONCEPT

Our primary aim is to create conditions for effective protection and to ensure broad access to unique archival collections held under the care of the Institute and SPP.

DIRECTLY: through the revival of our long-standing programme to transfer archival collections from analogue to digital platform — involving archiving and multi-stage digitisation, alongside the expansion of our database systems. This will be based on new IT infrastructure (Cloud) and modern OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies.

INDIRECTLY: by transforming the Institute and establishing a foundation for a model Polish archival institution outside Poland, and by implementing a new strategy and modern infrastructure, based on procedures compliant with Polish, British, and international archival and IT standards, as well as UK charity law.

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PLANNED ACTIVITIES

The project includes 7 interrelated activities:

1. The first activity involves implementing a new IT INFRASTRUCTURE, essential for executing the tasks scheduled withing this project and ensuring the smooth operation of the institution overall. We hope that, over time, this will enable virtual integration of both Institute locations, increasing productivity and interoperability.

2. The second activity focuses on ARCHIVAL AND DIGITALISATION PREPARATION, involving inventory checks of selected collections. These collections will then be processed into the archival workflow, with prepared inventories (alongside existing ones) serving as the basis for exporting data to an online database.

3. The third activity encompasses multi-stage DIGITALISATION, including scanning and converting images into fully searchable PDF documents using OCR and - we hope - AI based software. This will safeguard original archival documents and at the same time expand the data pool, forming the basis for search indices and, in future stages, an AI-driven application.

4. The fourth activity concerns the development of an innovative, multi-layer database system. Plans include creating further inventories in Excel format for selected collections and exporting these to the ZoSIA / Szukaj w Archiwach database. Additionally, efforts will be made to enhance the PDF index/search engine using OCR and AI within the local network (LAN) and, eventually, through a web AI application (currently only conceptual and in testing).

5. The fifth activity involves ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT — a set of actions that unify and support the other activities, forming the foundation for the entire institution. This includes launch a new development strategy, and implementation of archiving, digitisation, and administrative procedures, based on Polish, British, and international standards.

6. The sixth activity, BACKUP COPIES, with varied frequency, plans, types, and locations, will secure all administrative data, digital archives, and the operating system.

7. The seventh activity is INFORMATION AND PROMOTION, aimed at communicating the project, its achievements, and the institution itself. A part of this activity is also our mini campaign on social media.

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In subsequent posts, we will update you on the progress of these plans.

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WE ARCHIVE, DIGITISE, REFORM, AND MODERNISE! 

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Best regards

The Team of the Institute and the Trust

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