NLI seeking tenders to scan all the parish records!

pinkypinky

According to John Grenham: http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/column/index.htm

It's 520 reels and they're only talking about scanning them and putting them online, not transcribing them as well.* Even so, it'll cut the time massively because the researcher wouldn't need to go into the NLI and more than one person can view the same information concurrently.

I wonder how long it will take. I want it now!!

*Mount St Lawrence's burial records in Limerick are on their library website like this - I went through them looking for a particular surname in a few hours, so it's not an unworkable task.

shanew

very interesting thanks...

(posted details to rootschat)


Shane

Coolnabacky1873

Have been patiently waiting all year for developments on this.

Anyone have any updates, as it's been a year since it was announced?

shanew

unfortunately I haven't heard anything to suggest that this went any further than the tendering stage..
It would be very handy if it ever happened, as it would allow the equivalent of a visit to the NLI to view the films, but online

here's a link to John's original article (the url changes when the articles are archived) : http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/column/oct25_10.htm

p.s. I'm going to try emailing John Grenham via his Irish Times address to see if he's heard anything.


Shane

Coolnabacky1873

Thanks Shanew.

I remember the delight when I read the original article. Was hoping it might be up and running by the end of 2011.

Wishful thinking I guess. I'd be very grateful if you'd let us know if JohnG has any news about it.

shanew

I heard back from John this morning - basically the filming project never went ahead, but the NLI is still keen to see this happen. Part of the reason for the delay is the current cut-backs, but also apparently certain people didn't want this to proceed... you can probably guess who...


Shane

Coolnabacky1873

Thanks Shane. Such a disappointment. I can understand the cut-backs but the politics of it all is so frustrating.

It seems like a certain organization has a lot of control over what gets done.

later12

shanew wrote: »

but also apparently certain people didn't want this to proceed... you can probably guess who...


Shane

Sorry, I'm not particularly well clued up on this; who are you talking about?

The only people who I can imagine would be opposed to this information being publicly available would be some professional genealogists, and even then the reasoning appears flimsy.

This should be a fantastic public resource, so any explanation as to why it shouldn't be made public (quite readily) ought to be a good one.

Ponster

later10 wrote: »

so any explanation as to why it shouldn't be made public (quite readily) ought to be a good one.

The country is broke?

later12

Ponster wrote: »

The country is broke?

The poster said that cutbacks are only part of the reason for the delay, he said some people don't want it to go ahead.

Anyone who has used the national library in the past year knows that there is extensive digitisation of resources underway.

So all things being equal, there's no reason why this couldn't be digitised too.

Ponster

later10 wrote: »

The poster said that cutbacks are only part of the reason for the delay, he said some people don't want it to go ahead.

I guess he's referring to the companies who have paid to already digitalise these records and offer this service at a charge ?

shanew

The two organizations that apparently tried to prevent the scanning going ahead were the Catholic Church and the IFHF. Whatever the logic is for the bishops trying to hold back details (since they are already filmed and publicly available), I dont think a fee-charging organization, whether they are 'non-profit' or not, should have any say in this.

for more details of history of this ongoing 'battle' see John's column from 19th September this year : http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/column/sep19_11.htm

there's more on the meeting mentioned in John's column here : http://www.cigo.ie/news.html
quote : 'Fíona Tipple of the Genealogical Society of Ireland summed up the debate nicely by asking the audience to consider whether genealogical records should be considered a national resource to be viewed in context, benefitting the many; or as a product to be viewed on a pay-per-view basis, benefitting the few. John Grenham put a strong case for moral generosity and our moral duty to reconnect with the diaspora. He encouraged the institutions intent on charging for access to records to focus on the needs of the researcher, not on the needs of the institution. He urged that the IFHF database of entries transcribed from parish registers be retrofitted to the proposed digital images of the NLI parish register microfilms; several IFHF representatives had earlier pleaded that plans to put the NLI microfilms online be scrapped. The proceedings ended with a passionate address by Catriona Crowe of the National Archives, who pleaded guilty, unapologetically, to being one of the ideologically driven people who believes that our genealogical records are part of our national cultural patrimony and should be freely available to all researchers, both genealogists and those involved in all other forms of scholarship from history to anthropology.

I think minister Jimmy Deenihan's previously stated approach to make as many records as possible available through a central source is the way to go. Not just as a very valuable, not to say much needed, tourism resource, but with the added benefit of making it easier for amateurs and professionals alike here in Ireland to research these valuable RC records without trips to the NLI.


Shane

Jellybaby1

I've been watching this with interest. Pinkypinky, when you said that the "NLI are seeking tenders to scan all the parish records" did you mean 'all' as in all religions?

shanew

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I've been watching this with interest. Pinkypinky, when you said that the "NLI are seeking tenders to scan all the parish records" did you mean 'all' as in all religions?

the project which was under consideration was scanning all the RC flims held by the NLI.



Shane

owenc

Such a disappointment they must remember that these records are not only for roi but northern ireland too aswell as people from other countries. So when looking at this they must not be selfish and make the decisions themselves because it is also our records aswell.

Dun

Ponster wrote: »

I guess he's referring to the companies who have paid to already digitalise these records and offer this service at a charge ?

I guess you're referring to the IFHF here - I was under the impression that they got those records from the county centres, and that those digitisation projects were funded by the state, or am I wrong?

shanew

The RootsIreland website is run by the IFHF, which is as organization that these county centres are members of. As I understand it some of the transcriptions for a number of centres were indirectly funded by the state, by way of providing temporary employees, to do the transcriptions, via a FÁS scheme.

Other centres carried out their own transcriptions - not sure how these were funded, but possibly from local sources ?




Shane

later12

If these records were digitised by the IFHF receiving indirect state funds, why on Earth did nobody ask that the records be extended to the National Library in the first place

Waitsian

later12 wrote: »

If these records were digitised by the IFHF receiving indirect state funds, why on Earth did nobody ask that the records be extended to the National Library in the first place

Talk about getting my hopes up, I thought your post would have news rather than a question. My heart was racing.