IT and Archives: Professor Lavrov’s unique archive goes digital in Novosibirsk

A unique archive of the Russian scientist Svyatoslav Lavrov, who specialized in applied mathematics and computer science will go digital in the near future. The archive will be digitized and systematized by EMC Corp, jointly with the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. P. Yershov Institute of Informatics.

“Preservation of the history of programming in the USSR – is no small task which we are encountering today. This is not only our debt of gratitude to prominent scholars who were the pioneers in shaping of a scientific basis for computer use, but also a knowledge basis for young programmers”, says Alexander Marchuk, Director of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. P. Yershov Institute of Informatics.

The first experience of electronic archive in the Institute of Informatics is associated with the name of the academician Andrei Yershov, one of the pioneers of theoretical and system programming, founder of the Siberian school of informatics. After his death in 1988, the Institute received typed and partly handwritten works of the scholar, roughly over 500 thick folders. They shed light on the life of Andrei Petrovich, and the history of informatics in Russia.

The laborious digitization process went on for more than seven years, the archive is now complete and numbers 40.5 thousand documents and 148 767 images of documents which have been made freely available on the website.

This year saw the launch of a similar, but far larger work for digitization of the archive of Svaytoslav Lavrov, Russian scientist, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “It brings together very interesting documents, which tell about scientific, teaching and organizational career of the scholar, – says Vyacheslav Nesterov, Director General of EMC Development Center in St. Petersburg. – The archive can be compared with eight boxes each like an old TV set”.

In 2004, after the death of Lavrov, the archive was moved from St. Petersburg to Novosibirsk, and only 7 years later it became possible to create the archive’s electronic counterpart. As for today EMC’s investments in the project have exceeded $100 thousand. Digitized documents and notes are expected to equal 15 Tbytes.