San Marino/ 4.2 Specific policy issues and recent debates  

4.2.11 New technologies and digitalisation in the arts and culture

The State Archive has been working since early 2004 to convert documents into digital format. This will enable users to acquire a better knowledge of the documentary sources in the Archive and prevent their deterioration, while promoting their use and dissemination in electronic form. Two archive series, the historical population register and the Captains Regent's correspondence from the 14th to the 16th century, have been included in the web site (see chapter 9.2). The first one is particularly interesting for San Marino citizens, while the second one is aimed at scholars outside the Republic. In April 2005, a popular petition was filed to conduct a study on the strengthening, adjustment and modernisation of the State Archive so as to protect and safeguard the heritage preserved therein. In July 2005, the San Marino Parliament accepted the petition and urged the government to proceed with the study. As a consequence, in autumn 2005, the Ministry of Internal Affairs rented premises to adequately house and preserve all documents and correspondence from the Public Administration offices, as State property. In January 2012, San Marino Parliament approved, at first reading, the draft law "Protection and preservation of the Republic's documentary and archival heritage", now awaiting its second reading.

The State Library maintains the database "Sebina" containing 17 500 bibliographic references available in its collection. Input to the database has slowed down in recent years due to a re-evaluation of the system, updating appropriate software and the development of a special interface to enable the database to be put online.

Since 2003, the Permanent Study Centre on Emigration has promoted a plan to devise an information system for research and the management of collected data and documents. It is a "Memory Archive", conceived in a way so as to overcome the physical and logistical constraints of traditional museums, and make it available all over the world through the web. San Marino communities abroad have access to this archive. Its availability on the web enables non resident citizens to carry out personal research and / or studies. Most importantly, it allows those wishing to cooperate to send documentary material or data on emigration collected on-site, in order to complete and enrich the database of the Permanent Centre.

The Law on Electronic Documents and Digital Signatures, passed in 2005, is a single text which is part of a broader project on IT security, distribution of Internet services on the public data network, introduction of document e-archiving services and interactive provision of services to citizens. This important law stipulates some principles at the basis of a new technological and cultural transformation project. Indeed, the Public Administration reform, through an innovation and modern approach to the use of documents, will be, most of all, a cultural challenge, which will radically change communication systems among citizens, enterprises and the central administration. The result will be a higher level of quality, efficiency and effectiveness and a complete transformation of the approach to and use of documents.

The Ente Cassa di Fetano Foundation and the State Archive have been cooperating to build an online digital archive enabling an increasing number of people to access the rich San Marino archival resource. Four surveys have already been completed covering the period 1865-1947. The archive of vital records was further completed with the collection of the "Books of Souls" which were kept by parish priests in the second half of the 18th century. Hopefully all this documentation will be integrated by other historical records kept in parish archives.

In 2009, the Ministry of Education and Culture started a research project to survey San Marino cultural goods. This work, which is being continuously updated, aims at collating the public and private heritage by classifying it into artistic groups (antiques, pictures, painting collections, etc.). The Ministry intends to digitalise the material collected over the years so that it can be accessed through the website of the Ministry.

On the occasion of the 130th anniversary of its establishment, Cassa di Risparmio promoted the project entitled "Alceste", to support and favour the use of multimedia devices in the Republic's schools. Thanks to a Convention signed in February 2013 with the Ministry of Education and Culture, all schools in San Marino are now provided with multimedia interactive whiteboards, in order to effectively promote innovation in education and to strengthen and motivate students' learning. With regard to information technologies, San Marino schools are already in line with the best European standards. This modernisation process has been further accelerated by the introduction of the above-mentioned whiteboards, which represent a historical innovation and a precious tool for training.

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