1. Access to archives: aspects of public relations and publicity Irma Buzaitė Lithuanian Archives Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania Chief Specialist of Division of Information and Electronic Records e-mail: i.buzaite@archyvai.lti.buzaite@archyvai.lt

2. Access -  is a right and should apply to all users regardless of their nationality, status of function;  is part of the function of public archives services;  should be promoted to archival material and provide an impartial service to all users.

3. Access and PR The main purpose of PR –  to present society with all vital information in order to ensure transparency, publicity and efficiency of the activity of state institutions.

4. Key functions of PR :  Constant dissemination of information about institution’s activities;  Crisis management;  Promotion of dialog and collaboration between society and government.

5. Promotion of dialog and collaboration between society (1)  is necessary for successful development of institution activity;  enable to identify society’s and its individual group’s opinions, needs and interests about institution;  create and consolidate society reliance and acceptance of institution, enlarge society interest and comprehension.

6. Promotion of dialog and collaboration between society (2)  direct communication with society members (reading rooms);  excursions, educational programs, exhibitions  internet site;  local and international projects.

7. Project “Creation of Integrated Virtual Library Information System”  2,800,000 digitized pages of original manuscripts, newspapers, old books, metrics, chronicles and other especially valuable and historically important documents;  www.epaveldas.lt www.epaveldas.lt

9. Access to digitised documents  the old Lithuanian book;  the press of the Press Ban period;  Lithuanian books in Latin of the XVIth and XVIIth c.;  Lithuanian books in Polish of the XVIIth and XVIIIth c.;  Lithuanian press released until 1940s;  legislative acts and other formal documents of the Republic of Lithuania of the Inter-war period [1918- 1940];  the church registers of births, deaths and marriages of the Roman Catholic Church [1599-1930].

11. Project “The Baltic Connections”  http://www.balticconnections.net/. http://www.balticconnections.net/  focuses on themes such as trade, shipping, merchants, commodities, diplomacy, finances and migration, roughly from 1450 to 1800;  982 descriptions of materials in 127 repositories in 10 countries have been made available in the database.

12. http://www.balticconnections.net/ virtual exhibition

13. PR tools for promotion of access to documents (1) For individuals  Orientation interview;  Basic brochure on holdings, facilities and terms of access;  Simple handouts (reading room rules, how to request records, obtain copies, special access).

14. PR tools for promotion of access to documents (2) For small groups  Letter inviting use (universities, genealogical societies, ect);  Mini classes for beginning researchers. Slide-tape show about using the archives or starting research;  Training for volunteer reading room assistants.

15. PR tools for promotion of access to documents (3) For wider community  Slide-tape or video encouraging use of archives;  Loan/sales of microforms of selected records;  Seminars on popular research topics.

16.  Thank you for your attention !