Island’s registers to be accessible online
Progress is being made on the scanning of registers at the Priaulx Library.
The library is working with Find My Past and Visit Guernsey to launch the online service, which it hopes will go live in April next year.
Currently, to find a document, researchers must search the indexes to find the microfilm and put it on screen.
‘It can be really laborious and people can only do that here in the library, so in future, people will be able to do that online with a subscription,’ said Priaulx Library chief executive Steve Foote.
‘During this phase, we are doing all of the civil registers, so the births, deaths and marriages from the Greffe, all of the parishes and we’ve recently included the Methodist and Catholic registers as well.
‘On top of that we’re doing wills and property conveyancing records. At Island Archives they’re doing Occupation ID records, detailing all of the burials in the island’s cemeteries and the Town Hospital records.’
The team started scanning at the end of February and the project is due to run through until early October.
Once documents have been scanned on-island, they are sent off to the UK and then to India where it is transcribed and indexes are linked to the images.
‘Eventually you will be able to put in an ancestor’s name and it will come up with a whole range of data,’ said Mr Foote.
‘Once the service is online, people will be able to access it from home with a subscription, or come into the Priaulx Library and access it for free here.’
Guernsey will be the first location to have the full set of records digitally available, having previously been the furthest behind.
