There's been an update from the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) about its plans to return to some kind of normal, outlined at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/about-us/service-status. The following is the key part:
We recognise the demand for access to our Historical Search room and active planning is underway to return historical search room services to their original location. This move will present opportunities to increase capacity and the ability to add additional aspects of service delivery. This move is likely to take place during June 2022 and a specific date will be communicated to customers on the NRS website, when that information is available.
This is 'likely' to happen in June, but it is not confirmed yet. And so it drags on...
Probably the most telling line though is this:
We have experienced significant and unique challenges due to the requirement for good ventilation in our category A listed buildings.
The NRS has some fantastic archivists and registrars, and it's ScotlandsPeople website has been a game changer for many within the family history world. But there is a difference between having a Category A listed building and a Category A archive service provision. The poor ventilation of the building is the reason cited that the public has not been able to gain access - surely somewhere the penny must have dropped by now that the building is clearly not fit for purpose?
Over the last two years I have been fortunate to have been able to concentrate on other areas of work to keep me going, rather than be held hostage to the inadequacies of the NRS provision, but many folk have had livelihoods severely disrupted by their inability to gain acess, within the family history world, the historical and academic world, and from other requirements - not least of which being just general access for the public to their own national archive.
When the ScotlandsPeople Centre service area was initially re-opened, it
was on the basis that professional genealogists only could use it, and
not the general public. With the re-opening of the NRS search room,
there have again been limitations on who could use it and when. Even the Information Commissioner has taken the NRS to task (https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-nrs-was-wrong-to-deny-access-to.html). I have no doubt that some good folk have been trying to do their best with all of this, but such search room feudalism stems from having a physical facility that is simply not up to the task.
In 2019, some BMD registers were damaged because of flooding at the facility (see https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2019/07/shock-as-national-records-of-scotland.html). A few years before this, in 2015, the NRS announced an Estates Review (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2015/01/national-records-of-scotland-estates.html). I was contacted by the NRS at this point and was advised of the following:
"Our long-term aspiration is to co-locate the majority of our staff in a fit-for-purpose facility in Edinburgh, and to expand and improve our archive and public facilities at Thomas Thomson House in the west of the city. Although there are no immediate plans for NRS to move out of General Register House or New Register House, these buildings do not feature in our core estate over the long-term. This intention remains subject to a number of challenges and constraints, not least funding, and at this stage this is our preferred direction of travel over the long-term, not a hard and fast commitment."
As researchers, from various communities, we require access to the documents that we need for our research - we don't travel to archives to enjoy the pretty buildings. If the last two years have shown anything, it has shown that it is time for a 21st century archive in Scotland, as enjoyed in London by TNA and in Belfast by PRONI.
If no-one is listening - and if the return to normal simply means that we are going to be right back to where we were before the pandemic - perhaps a few more holes could be knocked into the building to let some more air in.
And preferably before the next pandemic hits...
Chris
My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.
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