Development of archival practice in the context of digitalisation and the implementation of electronic document management in the Republic of Poland

The relevance of the study lies in the need to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and long-term preservation of archival collections through digitalisation. The purpose of the study was to evaluate electronic document management and digitalisation of archival resources of the Republic of Poland to identify their advantages, challenges, and development prospects. The study adopted a descriptive and analytical approach and employed documentary, comparative, and case-study methods, thereby enabling a comprehensive evaluation of the regulatory and practical dimensions of the digitalisation of archives in the Republic of Poland and the identification of prospects for the development of the national digital infrastructure. The study demonstrated that the archival system of the Republic of Poland was undergoing a systemic digital transformation, with the implementation of electronic document management forming its key component, which ensured the automation of the document-processing cycle and compliance with international standards such as the Open Archival Information System, Encoded Archival Description, Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard, and Electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services. The findings indicated a considerable increase in the efficiency of archival operations: the time required for document registration was reduced from three days to four hours, losses of files decreased by 92%, and a complete electronic cycle of the development and transfer of archival packages was ensured. Comparative analysis showed that the central infrastructural projects are the Search the Archives portal and the National Digital Archives, which form a national digital ecosystem and are integrated with international platforms such as Europeana and Archives Portal Europe. Content analysis demonstrated dynamic growth in the digitalisation of archival collections: the number of digitised documents increased from 8.2 million to 70.3 million, and the share of collections in digital format rose from 11.3% to 77.6%. However, key constraints were identified: uneven technical capacity among regional archives, issues concerning the long-term preservation of digital copies, the safeguarding of metadata integrity, insufficient staff qualifications, and cybersecurity challenges. The findings are of academic value for researchers, specialists in archival digitalisation, staff of archival institutions, and public administrators interested in the modernisation of archival practice and the integration of national archival resources into the international digital space