The ScotlandsPeople Centre has been fully open for several weeks now. The new research system not only allows access to the BMDs, OPRs and Scottish census records, but also wills and testaments and heraldry records. What you may not be aware of, however, is the fact that whilst seated at your terminal, you can also access a vast range of exterior based websites, including Ancestry.co.uk, FindmyPast, Family Search, SCRAN, the NAS catalogue, EDINA, and many, many others.
For websites that require a subscription - such as Ancestry and FindmyPast - you will need to have your own subscription paid for, and to log in with your own personal username and password. However, the flexibility for family history research in the centre with these sites available at your fingertips is dramatically enhanced compared to the previous set up with the old DIGROS system, which will soon be completely phased out from the centre (it is temporarily still in use in the Dundas Room).
Where before you could find a soldier's death cert, for example, you can now find the same record, cross refer it to the Soldiers Died in the Great War database on FindmyPast, check for a medal index card and service record at Ancestry, and see if a will exists for him in the Soldier's Wills collection as listed on the NAS catalogue - all within a couple of minutes.
Next time you are in, it may well be worth spending another ten minutes to explore the Useful Websites link on the left hand side of the screen - you may well be in for several major surprises!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving
No comments:
Post a Comment