I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago that you can now register with the National Library of Scotland, to which many have responded that this has been available for some time. I called Veronica Denholm at the NLS this morning to clarify what is actually new.
The changes centre around the fact that in the past you had to go to the NLS in Edinburgh to register and then receive separate passwords for many databases. Now you can simply register from home, hence why they will now post out a validation letter which needs to be dealt with in three weeks, to confirm that you actually do indeed live in Scotland. Also, more databases have been made accessible, and more will be added in future, making it a truly exciting development.
In the past, with many national resources being based in Edinburgh, this created many privileges for those based in Edinburgh who could gain easy access. Thankfully these advantages are slowy being whittled away for the benefit of all Scots, whether in Stornoway, Castlebay, Kirkwall, Perth, Dumfries or Montrose.
Hopefully the plans to extend the ScotlandsPeople Centre computer system via regional centres across the country will also help to further democratise access to Edinburgh based national resources in a likewise manner in the very near future!
Chris
www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Professional genealogical problem solving and research
http://twitter.com/ChrisMPaton
Researching Scottish Family History (New book)
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