Reading room regulations

REGULATIONS FOR USERS OF THE READING ROOM OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

The regulations for users working with documents and their scientific reference apparatus (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) are determined by:

The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the National Archival Fund and Archives” dated December 22, 1998;

The Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On State Secrets of the Republic of Kazakhstan” dated March 15, 1999, No. 349-1;

The Concept of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, approved by the Order of the Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated October 27, 2006, No. 279;

The Rules for the receipt, storage, registration, and use of documents of the National Archival Fund and other archival documents by departmental and private archives, approved by the Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated August 25, 2023, No. 235;

The Rules for documentation, document management, and the use of electronic document management systems in state and non-state organizations dated August 25, 2023, No. 236.

2. OPERATING HOURS OF THE READING ROOM

The reading room operates from 9:00 to 17:00, with a lunch break from 13:00 to 14:00, on weekdays.

Access to the reading room is granted upon presentation of a pass issued in the established manner.

3. USER REGISTRATION RULES

1. Users conducting scientific work in accordance with the research plan of an institution or carrying out an official assignment shall submit an official letter from the organization directing them to the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The letter must indicate: the surname, first name, and patronymic of the user, position, academic degree/title, topic and its chronological framework, and the purpose of the research. The letter shall be signed by the head of the organization or the academic secretary.Students of higher educational institutions are registered based on a letter from the university signed by the rector (vice-rector), with justification for the necessity of working with archival documents.Users conducting scientific work on their own initiative must submit an application addressed to the Director of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, indicating the research topic.Foreign users are registered on equal terms with citizens of Kazakhstan based on an official letter from their host organization or foreign scientific institution, as well as upon personal application.
2. Users are registered based on their identity card and an application addressed to the Director of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The application must indicate the user’s surname, first name, patronymic, position, academic degree/title, place of work, research topic, and the period of work in the reading room (Appendix 1).
3. Based on the application, the user is provided with an admission pass to the reading room of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
4. The extension of the user’s permission to work in the reading room is carried out based on an official letter (application). A similar procedure is followed when changing the research topic.
5. Upon registration, the user fills out a questionnaire and a thematic card (Appendices 2 and 3).
6. To analyze the research topics and the frequency of access to the funds and documents of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a personal file for the user is created.

4. RULES FOR USER ACCESS TO ARCHIVAL FUNDS AND DOCUMENTS

7. The National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides the user, free of charge, with access to archival funds and documents on the requested topic, scientific reference apparatus, and reference information publications, as well as to the appropriate technical means for viewing and reading them.The National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in accordance with the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan and these Regulations, restricts user access to archival funds and documents, including those containing:information constituting a state or other legally protected secret for 30 years from the time of their creation, unless otherwise established by law;such medical information about individuals;court proceeding documentation, witness testimonies, and evidence;information about the personal life of citizens (family and intimate relationships, property and financial status), as well as those posing a threat to their life and the security of their home.The specified restrictions do not apply to employees of judicial, law enforcement, and control-revision bodies performing official assignments.The National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan restricts user access to documents containing information about facts, events, and circumstances of the private life of a specific person if a period of 75 years has not expired since the creation of such documents.The use of archival documents of personal origin is possible with the consent of the owners or their heirs (Article 16, Paragraph 3 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the National Archival Fund and Archives” dated December 22, 1998).For documents that have not lost their operational significance and were submitted to the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan before the expiration of the departmental storage period (15 years), written permission from the originating organization is required.Permission for users to use the documents of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan is granted by the Director.
8. Refusal or delay in the issuance of files and documents is permitted in cases of:poor physical condition;restrictions on the use of documents established in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the National Archival Fund and archives or by the originating organization upon transfer of documents for permanent storage (see paragraph 7);the necessity for employees of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan to perform official tasks (reference work, thematic development of funds, preparation of informational materials at the request of public authorities, document collections, creation of a security fund or usage fund, checking the availability of documents, restoration or copying of documents, processing declassified files, etc.);issuance of files and documents for temporary use to other institutions;exhibition of the requested materials;issuance of them to another user.Files (documents) that have not undergone scientific description and technical processing are not issued to the reading room.The citizen shall be informed about the refusal of access to an archival document no later than a 3-day period, and for written requests received from a citizen or organization – within a 15-day period; in particularly complex cases – within one month from the date of receipt of the request.
9. The issuance of requested materials is carried out in accordance with an order formatted in the established manner, within 24 hours from the moment of its submission (Appendix 4). Upon receipt of the requested materials, the user must sign the order form. The user’s signature certifies that they assume responsibility for the safety of the documents while using them.
10. In the order, the user specifies their surname, first name, patronymic, the topic and purpose of their work, the fund number, inventory number, file number, file title, and the number of sheets in the file.The data of the aforementioned details are entered into the order form as follows:fund number (on the cover of the inventory) in column No. 1;inventory number in column No. 2; if there are multiple inventories within one fund, the inventory numbers are transferred to the request in ascending order;file number (sequence number in the inventory) in column No. 3 in ascending order;file title;number of sheets in the file.
11. The amount of materials issued to a user per day is 3 inventories – from 7 to 10 files, and for non-resident users on a business trip for up to 1 month, 5 inventories – from 15 to 20 files.The maximum number of files held by a user should not exceed 15 files and 6 inventories, and for non-resident users on a business trip for up to 1 month – 30 files and 8 inventories.
12. Files are issued to users for a period of up to one month; highly valuable documents, by special permission from the management of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for a period of 1 to 5 days. Inventories and other archival reference materials are issued to the user for a period of up to 5 days.Extension of the terms of work with documents is carried out by an employee of the reading room on an individual basis, but it should not exceed 2 weeks.If the user does not visit the reading room for one week, the issued materials are returned to the repository and are subject to re-ordering.
13. The reading room employee is obliged to monitor the return of the materials issued to the user daily.
14. The user must return the issued materials to the reading room employee daily and fill out the document usage sheets in the files (Appendix 5).
15. Upon the final return of the files by the user, the reading room employee checks the numbering of the sheets and the condition of the documents in the file. If discrepancies between the actual condition and the records in the certification inscription, shortages, or damage to the documents are found in the returned files, an act of the established form is drawn up. (Appendix 6).

5. COPYING OF ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS

16. The National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, whenever possible, provides services for copying documents identified by the user while working on their topic in the reading room.
17. The copying of archival documents is carried out based on the user’s written order (Appendix 7).
18. The maximum volume of a single order is determined by the management of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, based on the technical capabilities of the copying equipment, but should not exceed 500 sheets of archival documents within one year. It is also prohibited to copy a file in its entirety.
19. Copying of archival documents is generally performed from existing security copies. Originals of unique, highly valuable documents, and documents with fading texts and physical damage, in the absence of security copies, are subject to copying only by microphotocopying methods.

6. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF USERS

20. The user, while working in the reading room of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, has the right to:

1. make brief excerpts and record the content of the documents, indicating the type of document and its author. Records and excerpts from documents must include the Archive’s search data, fund number, inventory, file, and sheet (for example: NARK. F.. Inv.. F.. Sh..);
2. receive free consultations on the composition and content of archival funds on their topic of interest;
3. access the scientific reference apparatus and automated archival search systems;
4. engage an interpreter.
5. The user is obliged to:

1. sign the Visit Registration Journal upon visiting the reading room (Appendix 9);
2. check the condition of files and documents upon receipt and sign the Book of File Issuance (Appendix 8). In case of detecting missing sheets or defects in sheets and documents, report this to the reading room employee;
3. not bring briefcases, bags, parcels, as well as printed materials or technical devices (mobile phones, cameras, movie cameras, scanners, photocopiers, voice recorders, etc.) into the reading room, except in cases agreed upon with the archive management;
4. ensure the preservation of documents during work;
5. not take files out of the reading room, not pass them to other persons, not make marks or underlines in the documents, not bend corners, not leave files open on tables, not expose them to direct sunlight, not transfer sheets from one file to another, not remove individual documents or parts of a document (drawings, photographs, etc.), observe the technical rules for working with equipment, not write on sheets of paper placed on top of archival documents, etc.;
6. fill out the document usage sheets in the files, and optionally, a questionnaire;
7. daily, at the end of the work, hand over the received archival files to the reading room employee for storage;
8. when using archival documents in scientific papers and publications, refer to their place of storage, indicating the fund, inventory, file, and sheet numbers;
9. objectively highlight the content of archival documents in the mass media and scientific publications.

7. LIABILITY FOR VIOLATION OF THE “WORK REGULATIONS”

22. Persons who violate the Regulations may be deprived of the right to work in the reading room and receive copies of archival documents temporarily (up to 3 months) or permanently.The decision on this is made by the management of the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan and is mandatorily communicated to the organization that petitioned for the user’s admission to the National Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan, or to their place of work (study).
23. Citizens who cause damage to the documents of the National Archival Fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan are held liable in accordance with the current legislation of the Republic.