Reading room

Reading room

1. General Provisions 

To provide information services to researchers, the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan operates a Reading Room, which has the technical equipment necessary to work with microphotocopies of documents, audiovisual and electronic documents.

The procedure for working with archival documents and the scientific reference apparatus for them is determined by the Laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan: “On the National Archive Fund and Archives” dated December 22, 1998, “On the Protection of State Secrets of the Republic of Kazakhstan” dated March 11, 1999, and the Regulations on the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, approved Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated June 15, 1999 No. 52, as well as hereby Rules. An employee of the Reading Room is obliged to familiarize researchers with the Rules.

The reading room is open from 9.00 to 17.00, break from 12.00 to 13.00, from Monday to Thursday, Friday is a sanitary day.

The work of the Reading Room is monitored by the head of the Service for the organization of the use of documents. 

           2. Procedure for registration of researchers

To obtain permission to work in the Reading Room, the researcher provides an official letter from the organization that delegated him, which indicates his last name, first name, middle name and/or patronymic, position, academic degree and title (if any), purpose, topic of research and its chronological framework. The letter must be issued on the organization's letterhead and signed by the first manager. The letter must be accompanied by a plan for scientific work, certified by the scientific supervisor or scientific consultant.

Individuals may also be allowed to work with Archive documents through the Reading Room on an individual basis, upon a personal motivated application, accompanied by an identification document.

Students of higher educational institutions are registered by a letter from the organization signed by the rector or vice-rector, justifying the need to work with archival documents.

Foreign researchers are registered to work in the Reading Room on equal terms with citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, on the basis of an official letter from the sending organization, or on the basis of a personal motivated application with an identification document attached.

To speed up registration procedures, researchers can conduct preliminary online registration through the portal of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - “archive.president.kz”, tab “E-archive”.

Permission to work in the Reading Room is given by the Director of the Archive or his deputy for the period until the end of the current calendar year (until December 31). After this period, if it is necessary for researcher to continue to work in the Reading Room, it is required to obtain permission again through the same procedure. The annual renewal of a work permit in the Reading Room is carried out on the basis of an official letter (application). A similar procedure is carried out when changing the research topic to another. For statistical reporting, as well as analysis of the use of Archive documents, a personal file is opened for each researcher.

           3. The procedure for researcher access to archival funds and documents 

The archive provides researchers with free access to archival funds and documents open to public use. A researcher allowed to work on documents is required to familiarize himself with the Rules of Operation of the Reading Room, fill out a standard form (researcher’s form), and two copies of a card for recording research topics. The materials and documents submitted by the researcher are filed in the researcher’s personal file.

In order to provide methodological assistance in identifying archival documents and working with them, a scientific reference apparatus has been developed: lists, catalogues, automated information retrieval systems, guidebooks, inventories. If necessary, consultations with Archive specialists are organized. After the obligatory familiarization with the scientific reference apparatus for archival documents, the researcher signs the log of visits to the Reading Room.

Access to secret, partially secret and confidential documents, databases, taking into account the restrictions established by the legislative and regulatory acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is provided in the manner established by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Familiarization with secret documents is carried out in a special room, under the supervision of an Archive employee authorized to work with secret documents. Partially declassified cases are released in the manner established for classified cases.

The archive limits user access to documents received for storage before the expiration of the 15-year period of departmental storage, as well as to documents marked “ДСП”1* (for official use), including documents containing trade secrets, information about facts, events or circumstances of the private life of a particular person (this includes: personal, personal, party-investigative files, medical documentation on health status), as well as documents of funds of personal origin in cases where its owner or the direct heir established signed restrictions on their public use.

To gain access to such documents, the researcher must obtain written permission from the funder. Documents from the Soviet period marked “ДСП” (for official use) are issued to researchers with the permission of the Director of the Archive or his deputies.

It is prohibited to copy the entire file. To avoid falsification, the personal signatures of the Head of State and the Head of Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan are hidden when copying.

Documents containing personal data are issued for use in compliance with the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the protection of personal data.

Rehabilitated persons, their relatives or heirs, in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, are provided with the right to familiarize themselves with the materials of party investigation cases, receive copies of archival documents related to rehabilitation, with the exception of information about third parties, without their consent. 

            4. The procedure for fulfillment of orders for the provision of documents

Orders for receiving documents are issued by filling out an electronic request form in the Information System “Electronic Archive” (hereinafter referred to as the “Electronic Archive”), indicating the fund number, inventory number, storage unit and a brief title of the case. The researcher can order no more than 20 cases at a time (1 request form). In the Electronic Archive system, access to the inventories in the database is unlimited. If necessary, the researcher can order no more than 10 paper-based inventories at a time. Cases are issued exclusively on the topic of research, for a period of no more than 30 days. After this period, paper-based materials are returned to the archive storage. In the Electronic Archive system, after the expiration of the period of use, materials cease to be available.

In order to ensure the physical safety of archival documents, instead of originals, copies will be issued if they are available in the form of technical media (computer, CD, microfilm, microfiche).

The execution time for an order for the issuance of files is 1 (one) business day. During the summer period (from June 1 to September 1), the deadline for fulfilling orders is 2 (two) days, with issuing of files on the third day.

            5. Rights and responsibilities of researchers

When visiting the Reading Room, the researcher must comply with the established work schedule and sign in the visitor book. Thus, the researcher certifies that he accepts responsibility for the safety of documents and technical equipment of the reading room during use. If you discover a defect or damage to a document in your file, or malfunctions or damage to technical equipment, you should report this to an employee of the Reading Room. The researcher is obliged to carefully fill out the case use sheet, indicate the dates, the topic of the study and the numbers of the sheets used.

The researcher has the right to write down the contents of documents in his notebook, indicate the type of document and its author. Records and extracts from documents must have search data: abbreviated name of the Archive (AP RK), numbers of fund, inventory, file and sheet. (AP RK. F.__. Inv.__. F.__. S.__). For recordings, researchers are allowed to use the technical means of the Archive.

In order to comply with information security requirements, the researcher is required to present personal belongings (bag/briefcase) to a police officer upon entering the Archives building. During the entry into the building of the Archive, technical means of recording and transmitting information (flash drives, CD media, smartphones with camera, photo and video cameras, scanners, as well as laptops or tablets) are placed in specially designated storage cells.

The use of mobile communications (telephone, Internet) in the Reading Room is prohibited.

The researcher, during one thematic period of work in the Reading Room, has the right to make photocopies of 100 sheets of documents. Photocopying of the necessary material is permitted only using the technical means of the Archive reading room. The list of documents for photocopying is compiled by the researcher. The completed order form for making copies is signed by the researcher and handed over to the Reading Room employee to obtain permission from the Director of the Archives or his deputy.

The list of copied documents is stored in the researcher’s personal file.

It is prohibited to remove archival files from the Reading Room or transfer them to other persons. The researcher should not make marks in documents by any means, underlining, crossing out, folding sheets, corners of the document, or turning over sheets with wetted fingers; should not expose documents to direct sunlight, remove sheets (their components: drawings, photographs, stamps, etc.) from the file; must not harm the safety of documents in any other way.

One copy of the publication (book, article in a magazine, etc.), in the preparation of which the researcher used documents from the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, must be transferred (sent by mail) to the Archive at the address: Index 050010. Republic of Kazakhstan. Almaty, Dostyk Avenue 87-b.

The researcher is responsible for ensuring that the information provided in the publication corresponds to the content of the archival documents used. 

            6. Responsibility for violation of the Work Rules

Violation of hereby Rules for working in the Reading Room entails deprivation of the right to work with Archive documents, temporarily or permanently. The decision on the latter is made by the management of the Archive, with written notification to the organization that sent the researcher.

In cases of theft or damage (intentional, unintentional) of documents, equipment, software applications, or intentional changes to the texts, the perpetrators bear administrative and criminal liability in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Material damage caused to documents of the National Archival Fund is subject to full compensation.