The General Protocol and Central Archive of the Governorate
A centralized system with two souls
More than 3,500 documents are digitized every month and almost 40,000 per year. This large bulk of work is managed by the General Protocol and Central Archive of the Governorate, a structure that plays a decisive role also in the transmission and consultation of documents, the sorting of internal and external correspondence and the preservation and protection of the historical memory of the Governorate. The managers of the General Protocol and Central Archive of the Governorate of Vatican City State, explain their work in the following interview.
What does the Protocol do?
The General Protocol and Central Archive of the Governorate handles the management of documents, in terms of computer protocols and the dematerialization of documents, as well as the transmission and consultation of documents (with prior authorization from Superiors) and paper and digital archiving and preservation, ensuring integrity and guaranteeing the transparency, confidentiality and reliability of the documentary heritage. Without forgetting the reception and sorting of the Governorate’s internal and external correspondence, the recording of incoming and outgoing postal correspondence and the digitization of the Historical Archive.
What is your organizational structure?
It has three specialized employees who work in synergy, carrying out actions aimed at managing digitized and paper documents in a process that is constantly evolving between tradition and innovation. The professionals involved interact and cooperate, carrying out the same duties indiscriminately.
How many documents are processed in a month, and which is the Directorate or Office that receives the most correspondence?
The General Protocol and Central Archive of the Governorate deals with a complex and significant documentary heritage, both from the administration and legal perspective and from the historical and cultural perspective.
The number of documents that the structure handles requires targeted, preparatory and functional activities aimed at guaranteeing a correct and efficient management. These activities are necessary because the Office records more than 3,500 documents each month, up to a yearly total of almost 40,000 digitized documents.
Faced with such a task, we can say that the Directorate of Security and Civil Protection Services and the Legal Office, both of which are part of the Governorate, handle a well-structured and conspicuous body of documents.
Is there also an Archive that is subject to the Protocol?
The General Protocol and the Central Archive of the Governorate is a centralized system in which two souls, the “Computer Protocol” and the “Digital and Paper Archive”, cooperate in an optimal, uniform and efficient way. These two “souls” work simultaneously by constantly initiating processes of modernization on several levels (organizational, documentary and technological).
Are you like the documentary historical memory of the Governorate?
The structure has a decisive role in the development, preservation and safeguarding of the historical memory of the Governorate. Working from the perspective of an overarching and at the same time unitarian management of the documentary heritage, the Office acts like a keeper of the historical memory, and therefore, of the identity of the Entity.
(Nicola Gori)
