ScotlandsPeople

1. ScotlandsPeople Culture in Communities Don Martin: East Dunbartonshire Libraries & Cultural services

2. The ScotlandsPeople Website • Set up in response to the huge interest in family history especially that of the Scottish diaspora overseas • GROS, NAS & Lord Lyon’s Court • 50 million records • Really quite expensive • 30 credits for £6.00 • Normal access via credit card

3. What’s on the Website • Statutory register of births, 1855-1906 • Statutory register of marriages, 1855-1931 • Statutory register of deaths, 1855-1956 • OPR births & marriages 1553-1854 • Census returns 1841-1901 • Wills & testaments

4. Library Pilot Project April-September 2006 • To support social inclusion • To develop ICT & information literacy skills • To encourage new people into family history • To widen access to ScotlandsPeople • To organise taster sessions to help develop skills • To increase awareness of public library resources

5. Library Pilot Project Arrangements • Piloted by four library authorities • Half price introductory offer (i.e. 60 credits for first £6.00 instead of 30) • Top-up vouchers at 20% discount • Special registration • Library and home access • Taster sessions a key part of the project; credits available for those

6. Library Pilot Project Problems • Technical problems • Novice users found system difficult • Library staff needed very careful training to cope • Learners on taster sessions had disparate ICT skills • Voucher supply (top-ups)

7. Library Pilot Project Achievements • Elements of social inclusion achieved • Evidence of improvement in ICT skills • New people encouraged to take up family history • Many people introduced to the ScotlandsPeople website • Taster sessions a considerable success • Library resources successfully promoted

8. Library Pilot Project Some Lessons Learned • The interest in family history continues to develop and expand • People like to study their family history in the friendly surroundings of the library • People don’t often use family history as a route into other learning activity • Family historians don’t always take an interest in social background

9. Family History & Community History • Should always go together • Community history the aggregation of the histories of local families • Library community history projects more popular if they include an element of family history • ‘Agents in the community’ will get round families to gather material • ‘People rich’ exhibitions always very popular • Series of such exhibitions in Strathkelvin

10. ScotlandsPeople & Community History • Very limited as source of community history • Social history of families not well covered • Therefore very important to integrate use of Scotlandspeople with use of library local studies collections (& archives) • Census returns helpful, but microfilm format free of charge in libraries (not available in future?) • Could family history centres in registryoffices marginalise libraries?

11. The Tail Wagging the Dog? • Dog more important than its tail, but… • Tail now very long… • …and growing longer • Length needs to be kept under control • Or dog will be forever chasing its tail • The integrity of the dog’s body should be paramount • Dog can still be proud of its tail

12. The Way Forward • ScotlandsPeople pilot successful • Will roll out to all library authorities • Training will be provided, possibly in conjunction with LOCSCOT • Very helpful to integrate into library services in this way • Resources of local studies collections appreciated by family researchers • Apart from the tree specialists!