The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a plan to build the Seoul Archives, the first of its kind to be built by a local government, for the management and preservation of valuable records, including important documents whose official period of preservation stands at 30 years or longer. The facility will also allow people to get access to materials they need, as libraries do, and check how records are preserved.

The work for the facility (total floor space: 15,004㎡) will be completed by 2018. It will be composed of ▴ preservation spaces, ▴ spaces for people’s participation, ▴ and spaces for working on records. The SMG plans to use the facility as one designed to enhance the quality of Seoul as a city of history and culture, promote people’s access to knowledge, and foster an atmosphere conducive to participation and collaboration.

With the overall amendment of the Act on the Management of Public Archives in 2007, local governments, including the SMG, were required to operate a facility for the management of their administrative records. The SMG will become the first local government to comply with the requirement upon the completion of the Seoul Archives. The SMG plans to sort out the records collected by the facility according to their subjects, sources, and periods, turn them into diverse forms of content, and encourage those interested to use them for a variety of purposes.