site.btaDetailed Report on History, Prospects of BTA's Archives Presented at Scientific Conference in Plovdiv

A detailed report on the history, status, and prospects of BTA's archives was presented at a two-day scientific conference here on Tuesday. The conference on "Future in the Trap of the Carbon Past" was held at the Paisii Hilendarski University of Plovdiv.

The report was presented by Desislava Sevova, Director of the Archives and References Directorate at BTA. The paper focused on the institutional origins, content and organization of the Agency's archives, as well as their functioning in an electronic environment.

Sevova presented the establishment of the Bulgarian News Agency in 1898 as a special service for delivering telegraphic messages about events abroad to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Affairs, reflecting on the different periods of BTA's functioning, the first bulletins issued, the first director and other moments to present day.

Sevova also focused on the status, structure, and functions of the Bulgarian News Agency, with the relevant legislative acts on the basis of which it carries out its activities.

With regard to the archives' organization, she made a general description of the different archive collections, types of archives, their contents and features. For the first time in the history of BTA, a specialised structure - the Archives and References Directorate - was created to cover the activities of preservation, conservation, reporting and registration, access, use and digitisation of archival documents from all the Agency's archives.

The Bulgarian News Agency has joined the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to implement the investment "Digitization of Museum Collections, Libraries and Archives" to preserve, access, use and promote archival documents, Sevova said. The digitization of the various archival collections is planned in stages with a deadline in 2026.

The report also noted the specifics of each of the arrays tied to the respective hardware and software. In order to optimize the search and use of the digital items, a unified software is to be developed for all the beneficiaries of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to provide their archival funds, added Sevova.