Online firms sought to digitise historical records

Currently the original records are held at a number of different locations around the island.

But now the Priaulx Library, Island Archives, Church of England, La Societe Guernesiaise and the Greffe have joined forces to try and find a company to partner with them on the project, with the hope it will make the

Bailiwick’s history more accessible to researchers around the world.

‘Guernsey is currently falling behind other jurisdictions in terms of availability of digitised records online, and this is an excellent opportunity to change that,’ said the Island Archives’ Vikki Hart.

‘It will not only make our records more accessible, especially to researchers who are unable to visit in person, but also help us to better preserve them in the long term. The more these documents are handled, the faster they can degrade, so providing an option to access them online will help us to preserve them for future generations.’

‘We would like to reassure locals and researchers alike, however, that physical access will still remain the same.

'This digitisation programme is about expanding researchers’ options, not replacing access to the physical records.’

It is hoped that an online businesses – such as Ancestry, Findmypast, and MyHeritage, for example – will make an offer to digitise the records, and other pieces of recorded family history stored in various archives, with the focus being on birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial registers.

There is not expected to be any cost to the organisations involved, as the scanning and indexing work will be done by the tendering companies.

They will then host all of the digitised records on their website in an easily searchable format, which will be accessible for free for all visitors to the

Priaulx Library, Greffe and Island Archives, as well as to subscribers.

The deal could be similar to one that Ancestry did with Hampshire County Council in 2021, which saw it digitise nearly 400 years of parish registers and probate records.

As part of that agreement, Ancestry was made free to access at Hampshire’s 40 public libraries.

Priaulx Library chief executive Steve Foote said the group was now awaiting the tender responses.

‘At the Priaulx, this is a key part of our strategy to make local records available to local and family historians around the world, and bring the library’s offerings into the 21st century.

'We are very excited about this collaboration and the opportunities this will bring. We are hoping to be in a position to announce the successful partner in April.’