"Elar" digitized thousands of books and exhibits from various funds of the "Russian Museum"

2023: Digitization of thousands of books and exhibits from different funds

ELAR on February 22, 2023 announced that it had digitized thousands of books and exhibits from different funds for the Russian Museum.

ELAR specialists created digital copies of museum collections of Engravings, objects of folk and ancient Russian art, as well as accounting and custody documentation.

Cooperation between ELAR Corporation and the Russian Museum began back in 2012, when the first array of accounting and storage documentation was scanned. Then, in 2018, 739 inventory books of the main fund were transferred to the figure, and in 2020, ELAR specialists scanned 435 accounting books from the departments "Sculpture," "Medals," "Engraving," etc.

In 2023, the next stage of digitization was completed - the inventory books of funds, various acts, minutes of the expert stock commission were scanned. Scanning was carried out by specialists on professional planetary scanners, which ensured the safe digitization of even the most dilapidated of the documents. Digitization of accounting and storage documentation is important for the activities of all museum employees who are responsible for registration, movement and other accounting procedures with museum items. A digital copy of the book, housed in the KAMIS automatic museum system, enables anyone involved in the accounting and storage of museum items to see data about the item without directly visiting the stock department, where the museum item and accounting books about it are stored. This greatly speeds up and simplifies the process of work, as well as preventing documents from wearing out.

Also within the framework of the project, museum items from the departments "Engraving," "Folk Art," "Old Russian Art," "Decorative and Applied Art" were digitized. The result of the work was 158,420 symbols in RAW, TIFF and JPG, PDF, Excel formats.

2020: Digitization of 400 inventory books

ELAR Corporation on March 24, 2021 announced the digitization of documents for the keepers of the Russian Museum.

More than 400 inventory books were digitized as part of the last stage in the formation of a database of main and scientific support funds. The presence of digital copies acquired particular importance during the pandemic.

The Russian Museum and ELAR Corporation are united by many years of cooperation: the first array of accounting and custody documentation was scanned back in 2012, in 2018 the largest amount of work was performed - 739 inventory books of the main fund of different collections were translated into figures. The last stage of digitization at the end of 2020 completed the work on scanning the inventory books of the main and scientific support funds - a total of 435 accounting books from the departments "Sculpture," "Medals," "Engraving," etc. Books were in various states, from very dilapidated with crumbling pages (pre-revolutionary) to modern books, but with very tight stitching. Some of the books had to be embroidered before scanning to obtain copies without losing information, and after scanning, the stitching had to be restored. Scanning was carried out by specialists on professional planetary scanners, which ensured the safe digitization of even the most dilapidated of the documents.

Digitization and its results are very important for the activities of all museum employees who directly ensure registration, movement and other accounting procedures with museum items, "says Elena Viktorovna Starostenko, head. Department of centralized accounting of museum items. - Digital image of the book placed in the automatic museum system KAMIS, allows everyone included in the process of recording and storing museum items to see data on the subject without directly visiting the stock department, where the museum item and accounting books about it are stored. In the Russian Museum, stock storage departments are located in three palaces and access to paper accounting documents is very difficult, and digital scans make it possible to quickly turn to documentation.

According to the staff of the Russian Museum, even keepers who have genuine accounting books at hand, after experience working with digital scans that are illuminated by the screen light on the computer, appreciated the convenience of working with electronic copies. This allows once again not to pick up and flick through the book, providing it with better safety.

The presence of digital copies acquired particular importance during the pandemic caused by coronavirus infection, - comments Elena Viktorovna Starostenko. - For many museum employees, the transition to remote work became possible only thanks to digital accounting documents posted in the KAMIS database. Thanks to digital scans, the team had the feeling that we were ready for such an unexpected situation for everyone.

The museum notes the high quality of digitized images and the technical equipment of ELAR Corporation, as well as the professionalism of employees directly involved in the process of digitization and indexation of digital images.

We hope that ahead of us is the continuation of cooperation with the ELAR corporation on the digitization of both the museum objects necessary for use in the work of numerous acts of movement, the chronology of which covers the entire 125-year period of the existence of the Russian Museum, and on the digitization of the museum's art collections themselves, "says Elena Anatolyevna Shvetsova - Head of the State Accounting Service of the Museum Fund.