From Director General

You are warmly welcome to the website of National Archives, R.O.C. It is our pleasure to provide you with a variety of information, which can satisfy your needs to "know", and furthermore enrich your life.

The word "archives" means a collection of documents and records that has been categorized, registered, numbered and then well preserved. This concept is not strange, but the public does not fully understand its importance except those who are required to get in touch with and to use them at work. In fact, "archives" inherited the wisdom of human race, and plays a decisive role in the evolution and progress of our times. Today, information is disclosed, and people's right to "know" is emphasized, thereby it's needless to say the importance of "archives".

"Archives" is referred to all sorts of records generated when government agencies that offer services to the public perform their duties in accordance with the legislation. Managing archives is one of the government's policies. Whether the archive-managing system is well designed remains the critical index of reviewing a country's modernization in administration. Among nations in the world, the more developed the nation is, the more emphasis it puts on archives management, and the more complete its archives management legislation is. Our archives management legislation is rooted in "Archive Act", which was mandated by the President of the Republic of China on the 15th of December 1999. Article 1 of the said Act elaborates from the very beginning the objects of this Act are to perfect government agencies' abilities on managing archives, to better the openness and the application of archives, and to realize the function of archives. In order to perform the said objects, the Executive Yuan approved on the 1st of March 2000

to establish the Preparatory Office of National Archives, R.O.C. under the Executive Yuan's Research, Develop & Evaluation Commission, and start to institute the central government agency responsible for archives and to organize related legislation concerning archives management. After one year of hard work and planning, the Preparatory Office has completed 23 legislative works, including the legal basis of instituting the central government agency responsible for archives---"The Organizational Act for the National Archives" draft. The Legislative Yuan has completed the legislative process and approved the draft on the 4th of October 2001 with the final reading, and the President mandated the approved draft on the 23rd of October in the same year. Thereby National Archives, R.O.C. was established on the 23rd of November 2001. The implementation date of Archive Act was signed and approved by the Executive Yuan to enter into effect on the 1st of January 2002, and related sub-laws will be mandated and implemented at the same time. Till this point, our archives management system has officially legalized, standardized and professinonalized. It is expected that our archives management is heading towards a new milestone.

The new century has arrived accompanied by the coming of the knowledge management era. Therefore, managing archives is no longer narrowly defined as a closed pattern of documents management!Fon the contrary, it has become the steersman for realizing the ideal of knowledge management. There is no doubt that the implementation of "Archive Act" is the starting point of our founding the knowledge-managing system conforming to the current trend.

In this website, we loaded the medium-term programs that we plans to accomplish within 4~5 years!Aincluding "National Archives Office Building Renovation Program", "Archives Management Integration Program" and "National Archives Information System Building Program". These programs outline our future development and let the public to know more information about us.

We hope this sharing, creative, information-distributing and value-added knowledge system can gain your support and recognition. In order to enable visitors to glance at the newest knowledge and technology of archives management when exploring this website, an "Archives Classroom" was set up to provide all sorts of knowledge and technology, and to be helpful for your work. And the treasures in "Archives Mining", no matter published works, papers, periodicals or references collected from all over the world, are the outcomes of our painstaking work throughout the year. As long as the visitors search in detail, there will be a fruitful harvest. In addition, the Q&A section is the place where visitors can submit their questions concerning archives management and application, and get the answers to the questions. Visitors also can send out their opinions and suggestions in this section. Complying with the principle of considering customers as priority, we will, in the shortest time, provide you with satisfying answers and services to your requests.

To put it more simply, your visiting is our great honor. National Archives, R.O.C. is like a sapling, which needs your care and love. We are proud to be the archives managers, and will take this position as a lifetime ambition. We will continue working on this fertile land, and enable every sapling in this yard to grow up and stronger.

We appreciate your visiting, and sincerely welcome you to continue your excursion in this website. Best wishes, and have a nice day!

Su Po Chen
Director General, National Archives, R.O.C.