Wichtiger Hinweis
Digital long-term archiving in the city archive
Stand: 28.05.2024
On April 1, 2023, the Erlangen City Archive was able to transfer the digital long-term archiving solution "DiPS.Kommunal" into productive operation.
File structures, databases, electronic files - the written material produced by public authorities and private individuals in the late 20th and 21st centuries differs significantly from the traditional paper documents that archives have primarily dealt with in the past. What used to be analog in the form of index cards, books and file folders can now be found in binary code in the depths of private computers or municipal server systems. The physical structure of the records has therefore changed considerably in recent decades. However, the most central task of archives has remained the same: the permanent storage of administrative documents and the associated legal protection for archive authorities and private individuals.
Ensuring the usability of digital documents over decades or even centuries is a particular challenge, especially in times of increasingly rapid technological progress. In order to meet this challenge, the Erlangen City Archive has started productive operation of the digital long-term archiving solution "DiPS.kommunal" on April 1, 2023 after many years of preparatory work. This application package is operated by the LWL Archive Office for Westphalia, the Office for Information Processing of the City of Cologne and the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne and is used by a large number of municipal archives in North Rhine-Westphalia and beyond. Over the next few years, the focus of digital archiving at the Erlangen City Archive will be on the transfer of data from the electronic specialist procedures used in the administration.
The Erlangen City Archive is the second Bavarian municipal archive after the Nuremberg City Archive to join the "DiPS.kommunal" user network. In the course of the inter-municipal exchange, it is hoped that other municipal archives in the Nuremberg metropolitan region and beyond will join the user network in order to establish an efficient "DiPS.kommunal user group" in Bavaria as well.