Abstract:

In the last few years, the digitization of the archival-documentary heritage has become a leading priority worldwide for all institutions committed to its safeguarding. The benefits couldn’t be clearer and they can be seen in many aspects: better storage, safeguarding and promotion, Internet accessibility, etc. As an EU member, Bulgaria is no exception to this trend.

The main aim of the proposed paper is the presentation of the digitization carried out so far in the National Library “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” – the institution which is leading in its professional activity and should demonstrate good practices for other libraries. Some quantitative data on the digitization carried out so far, which are extracted from the public annual reports of the institution, will be presented and analysed. The paper also identifies the main difficulties that managers and experts must deal with in order to make the process easier and quicker in future. The main prospects for digitization and the leading world practices in this direction will be emphasized as well.

Keywords:

National Library “St, St, Cyril and Methodius”, archival-documentary heritage, digitization, access to information.