Digital transformation of archives: from digitization to intelligent information environments

The article examines the key challenges of accessing Russia's historical and cultural heritage through the lens of digitizing archival documents. The author points to a systemic crisis caused by the low level of digitization (5–6%) alongside a concurrent increase in the volume of incoming paper documents. The archaic paradigm of document management, which focuses on physical media, is criticized for leading to "pseudo-digitization" — the creation of scanned images without machine-readable text, thereby blocking intellectual access to the information. As a solution, a paradigm shift from "original-as-medium" to "information-as-data" is proposed. Three main vectors of development are outlined: technological: Implementation of OCR/HTR, semantic technologies (Linked Open Data), and electronic document management systems to enable full-text search and analysis; Infrastructural: Creation of unified state cloud platforms (e.g., TsKhED) for centralized and secure storage; Legal: Overcoming legal uncertainty, developing regulations for processing personal data, and creating strategies for the long-term preservation of digital formats. The conclusion is that without consolidating these directions into a unified system of regulatory and methodological support, investments in digitization will be ineffective. The ultimate goal is the transformation of archives from repositories into services, ensuring democratized access to historical and cultural heritage and fostering critical historical consciousness.