Scottish Archive Network Project Evaluation Report
(view PDF version)

21 April 2004

Edited by
Rob Mildren
Project Manager

ISBN: 1 870874 49 8

1. Summary : What has the SCAN Project achieved?

The Scottish Archive Network or SCAN project, a £4 million initiative supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, has put Scotland's archival heritage on the Internet and provided a model for access to archives in the twenty first century. It has created a virtual archive service, combining three elements:

• catalogues of the holdings of nearly every Scottish archive service;
• a suite of reference services, aimed at helping both the beginner and the experienced user of archives;
• a complete archive resource in digital form, 2.5 million images of all Scottish wills before 1901.

Three quarters of the project funding came from the Heritage Lottery Fund, with the balance coming equally from the National Archives of Scotland and the Genealogical Society of Utah. The project has taken just four and a half years to complete and has cost £3.8 million, making it just under budget. It has employed a total of 79 people, either full time or part-time, and they have contributed a total of 111 person years work.

The project has created or collected catalogue entries for over 29,000 archive collections across fifty two archive services. These give a summary of holdings, with dates, and contact information. The reference services include a knowledge base of 1,000 key entries on Scottish archives and history, virtual exhibitions and an interactive course on early Scottish handwriting. There are also a series of educational resources aimed at schools. The wills are accessed via a newly created index, searchable by name and date, which allows the customer to jump straight to the digital image in seconds.

In order to make the project sustainable, images of wills downloaded from the Internet are charged for, though they are free to view in the search rooms of the National Archives of Scotland. All other services, including the wills index, are free.

The project was planned and led by the National Archives of Scotland, while the Genealogical Society of Utah provided volunteer staff to capture the digital images and work on indexing.

One of the project's major achievements has been to develop a system to allow high volume, high quality image capture from original archive documents, while safeguarding them through skilled conservation input. It has also changed the balance of access to archives, with help services controlled by the customer in place of the traditional archivist.

There are six areas in which SCAN has achieved significant progress.

1.1 Digitisation

SCAN has developed what is believed to be the largest and fastest digitisation operation from original archive documents anywhere in the world. The achievement has been threefold.

• First is the development of workflow procedures, including conservation treatments and pagination before scanning, careful handling protocols during scanning, and phase boxing afterwards.
• Second is the development of image management software with GSU experts, including a quality control system to minimise the time documents were under the scanner.
• Third is using skilled archivists to ensure the links from images to index entries were correct.

After several months delay as suitable equipment was procured and workflow systems were perfected, the project digitised three million pages of archive documents in thirty six months. This rate of image capture puts digitising documents on demand within reach for the first time, and NAS will be building on the lessons learned in the project. As a result of the work SCAN has done, it is possible to envisage an entirely remote access service for archives, in which customers select documents from the catalogue, then order digital copies, which can be scanned and delivered to them in about the same time as it takes to order a document in a traditional archive. This is of potentially enormous importance to archive services across the world.

1.2 Catalogues and Standards

SCAN's second major achievement has been to produce a single union catalogue of all Scotland's archives at the collection level. This puts Scotland ahead of other parts of the United Kingdom, in terms of coverage and consistency, and provides a model that is now being copied elsewhere. The components of this achievement are again threefold.

• First is the development of a set of guidelines for archive listing at the collection level in Scotland, based on international standards. This is the first time there has been a comprehensive standard for archive cataloguing in Scotland and has already improved consistency of description and raised professional awareness of standards.
• Second is the application of these guidelines by project staff across diverse record holdings, helping to transfer skills and increase the expertise of Scotland's archivists in description and the application of national and international standards.
• Third is the implementation of a catalogue database that could be used by the project's central server, and also by participating archives. Use of a common system by over half the participating archives helps promote common cataloguing standards, makes future updating of catalogues easier and provides an invaluable building block for further development of item level electronic catalogues in Scotland.

Although the project changed its strategy mid-way, adapting an off the peg product rather than developing its own system, the overall result has been to significantly improve access to Scotland's archival heritage, and help Scotland's archives to position themselves to benefit from future UK networking initiatives.

1.3 Marketing and e-Commerce

The SCAN project has broken new ground in applying business techniques to identify a market for electronic delivery of archival images, and to exploit it. The project began with an untested assumption that there would be a ready market for the digitised wills. The experience of the NAS search rooms was that around 1,000 copies of wills per year were produced, for personal and postal enquirers, but the project hoped that more knowledge of the wills, and easier access would improve this. Marketing research, with the assistance of Lothians Enterprise and seconded students from Heriot Watt University, indicated that the market might be more substantial and that people would be perfectly willing to pay for a full colour, high resolution image delivered to them. The project has gone on to develop a thriving e-commerce facility that is selling as many images of wills per month as the NAS sold in a year, and with every sign of continuing growth in sales.

1.4 Genealogical Tourism

The project did not set out to specialise in genealogy, but it recognised early on that this was probably the single biggest growth factor in the use of archives. It is also one with significant potential to contribute to economic development, through stimulating tourism. SCAN staff worked with representatives of VisitScotland and local tourist interests to link their site to those targeting visitors to Scotland. This raised the awareness of both those holding archives and those promoting tourism, of the potential of the genealogical tourism market to Scotland, and the value of collaboration. SCAN has also led to a further initiative to develop ScotlandsPeople, a single official family history service for Scotland, at both national and local level. Genealogical tourism can be a potent argument for archivists at every level, showing a real connection between the care of the documentary heritage and economic growth.

1.5 Benefiting the Archive Community

The project has made a significant contribution to the capacity of Scottish archives. In addition to promoting awareness of standards, it has provided PCs and Internet connections to a number of Scottish archives that did not have them before. A total of 34 participating archives benefited. It provided associated ICT training that boosted archivists' knowledge, skills and confidence. It continues to provide specific help to some archives, including hosting microsites, digitising documents, and hosting virtual exhibitions. The ability of Scotland's archivists to respond to customer enquiries has been widened by the availability, for the first time ever, of a union catalogue and high quality on-line reference materials on Scottish archives and history.

1.6 Benefiting the Archive Customer

SCAN has created an archive website that mirrors the facilities of a physical service. Much attention has been paid to developing self-help services, allowing the visitor to access catalogues and reference materials, answer questions whether simple or complex, view exhibitions and educational material on-line, and order digital images of documents. This is now a tried and tested model for the development of archive services in the twenty first century.

The most obvious achievement of the SCAN project is that it has created a website which showcases Scotland's rich archival heritage and is extremely popular. It recorded over one million unique visitors over the past year, which is several times greater than the total of people making physical visits to Scotland's archives.

2. Project Rationale

2.1. Project Background

Access to Scottish archives has been restricted as many archive users have found it difficult to establish what archived information was available and identify where that information may be located. The fact that much of this information was only available within central Edinburgh and that old paper catalogues could be very difficult to use, owing to their size and complexity, often compounded this problem.

To redress this situation the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) project sought to open up access to the rich written heritage of the nation by creating a digital medium through which information could be more easily located and retrieved. To this end SCAN set out to create a virtual search room for Scottish archives, which would provide digital access to the top level finding aids for every archival institution which had agreed to participate in the project. In addition, an electronically searchable 'knowledge-base' of Scottish history was also created to assist researchers in their exploration of Scotland's past. A further aspect of the project ensured that all the wills and testaments registered in Scotland between 1500 and 1901 were digitally imaged and linked to an electronic index, making this major primary source of Scottish history more widely available to family history and genealogical researchers. All of these services were developed to be remotely accessible via the Internet. By the end of the project fifty two public and private archives from across the length and breadth of Scotland had joined the SCAN project, the largest of which was the National Archives of Scotland (NAS).

Core funding for the project of £2.9 million was awarded by the Trustees of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) while the required partnership funding of £1 million was jointly provided by the NAS and the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU).

The project's objectives, as detailed in the Project Implementation Document, were as follows:

2.2. Project Objectives

• to create an electronic search room for fifty two participating Scottish archives.
• to collect the top level finding aids of the participating archives as they existed in the year 2000; to convert them to the International Standard for Archival Description (ISAD(G)) and into electronic form; to provide electronic links to more detailed electronic catalogues, if they exist, or to state that more detailed catalogues exist only on paper; and to make this information available and searchable electronically over the Internet.
• to construct a knowledge data base of 1,000 key themes of Scottish history from sources in participating archives and make it searchable electronically over the Internet.
• to develop a range of other services to enhance the electronic search room, including exhibitions, discussion forum, and archive directory, all searchable electronically over the Internet.
• to develop the existing electronic catalogues of the National Archives of Scotland and make the top level finding aids of 1,000 of their major fonds available over the Internet.
• to create digital images and convert the various indexes to Scottish testaments, 1500-1875, to electronic form and link them electronically to digital images of the testaments.
• to improve the preservation conditions of the original testaments.

This report, therefore, sets out to provide both a critique and evaluation on the technical, financial and preservation implications of large-scale digitisation of archive material, in the light of the project experience.

3. Defined Method of Approach

The project utilised the Prince 2 management methodology, adapted for the specific needs of the project, and was split intellectually and practically, into two separate parts:

• The creation of the products needed to create the infrastructure of the Scottish Archive Network.
• The subsequent exploitation and expansion of these initial products.

At a practical level the project was further sub-divided into the following four sub-projects:

• Online Catalogues
• Internet Resources
• Wills & Testaments
• Information Technology & Communications.

3.1. Project Deliverables and Outcomes

The top level finding aids (i.e. the fonds level finding aids) of all fifty two participating archives, were converted to ISAD(G) and into electronic form, electronic links were provided to more detailed catalogues, if they existed in electronic form, or statements that more detailed catalogues existed only on paper.

• A knowledge data base of 1,000 key themes in Scottish history, covering 450 subjects, 250 places, 250 people and 50 'how to's' was created and made available over the Internet.
• An electronic discussion forum, virtual exhibition space, and archive directory, were created and made available over the Internet.
• The existing electronic catalogues of the National Archives of Scotland at file/bundle/item level were made available over the Internet.
• 600,000 index entries to Scottish testaments, 1500-1901, were converted to electronic form and (currently) 460,000 have been linked to digital images of the testaments.
• 1.8 million digital images of approximately 3.5 million pages of testaments have been prepared, captured, quality controlled, stored and made available.
• The SCAN and ScottishDocuments.com websites were designed to be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and have attracted over 1 million visitors.
• The original paper testaments were placed in phase boxes and withdrawn from public consultation.

3.2. Project Harmonisation

Although there was no obligation for harmonisation between the SCAN project and other archival projects, much work has been carried out to allow a UK network to be formed in future . This has concentrated on the archival aspects of potential future networks rather than the technological aspects. This has now placed SCAN as an integral part of the plan for the development of a UK wide National Archive Network and laid the foundations for more extensive catalogue conversion in the Mac2A project.

Joint work on name authority files was carried out with the then Public Record Office and the National Register of Archives and SCAN is currently represented on the committees of all the various networking initiatives. SCAN also worked closely with the Higher Education (HE) Hub to ensure that new cataloguing paid for by the Hub, in Scottish universities, was in a format which could be successfully integrated into SCAN and vice versa.

4. Project Interfaces

4.1 National Archives of Scotland (NAS)

SCAN worked closely with the NAS Historical Search Room in withdrawing the testaments from public use and providing surrogate copies. Although this was seen as a potential area of difficulty few complaints from the public were received. This was due to the publication of careful explanations and detailed timetables in the Search Room and by SCAN holding a series of meetings with record agents and readers to discuss relevant issues.

SCAN worked closely with the record cataloguing branches to compile the new NAS top level finding aid to replace the existing Summary Catalogue. Through extensive consultation with all the participating archives and with other archives in the UK, the project was instrumental in creating and introducing cataloguing guidelines, with the result that Scotland has now for the first time an agreed cataloguing standard at fonds level.

SCAN worked closely with the NAS Outreach and Education Branch in providing facilities for electronic exhibitions and publications. SCAN took the lead in website design and passed on the knowledge and experience gained through this process to the NAS who were able to use this information to successfully design their own website. Both the SCAN and the NAS websites share the same platform.

4.2 Descriptive Standards

One of the aims of the project, which has been fully achieved, was to develop a Scotland-wide catalogue of archives. An essential part of this was developing a set of agreed standards for cataloguing. Archives have come relatively late to standards and the tendency until recently was for individual institutions to develop their own house rules. Differences in rules mattered little, since the user had to visit the archive, and the local system could then be explained. With the arrival of the Internet and the opportunity for catalogue data to be shared with other institutions and with a public that did not necessarily visit, the need for standards became clear. The pioneering development in the 1990s was a data structure standard produced by the International Council on Archives (ICA), known as the International Standard Archival Description (General) or ISAD(G). The second edition was issued in 2000. ISAD(G) was followed by another structure standard, with some content rules, for describing individuals and groups, the International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate bodies, Persons and Families or ISAAR(CPF). At about the same time, the UK National Council on Archives produced a set of rules for describing personal place and corporate names, which parallels and complements the ISAAR standard.

One of the strengths, but simultaneously one of the weaknesses of the ISAD and ISAAR standards is that they are relatively easy to comply with. They were an essential pre-condition for exchanging and sharing catalogue data, but they did not of themselves provide a means of exploiting electronic cataloguing. A North American group, led by Daniel Pitti, recognising the potential of markup languages and the power of document type definitions, produced Encoded Archival Description (EAD). The second and subsequent editions of this are directly linked to ISAD, and provide a means of coding ISAD structured descriptions.

SCAN recognised the importance of international standards and decided at the outset to use ISAD and ISAAR. However, it was less clear on the value of EAD. On the one hand, we saw its potential to help users target their searches, but on the other, we were concerned about the additional cost in tagging entries and how to deal with huge legacies of untagged material. In order to clarify matters, the project sponsored an international conference in September 1999, and invited a number of prominent speakers, including Pitti. The conference crystallised thoughts and led to the conclusion that SCAN would not use EAD as an input format, but it would seek to build it in as an export format, in other words, it would keep the option of producing EAD records from its catalogues. A report on the conference is given at [link to conference report].

The question of data content remained, however. It was realised that the project would need to develop guidelines applicable across Scotland, across the different types of record encountered in all the participating archives, and consistent with the software packages in use. SCAN had one big advantage, it had its own dedicated team of cataloguers, rather than gathering other people's catalogues as, projects such as the HE Hub and A2A did. This made it much easier to develop a set of data content standards. The decision to use the CALM cataloguing software, and the wide take up by participating archives, further helped to promote a standard approach to cataloguing. Catalogue standards have been published on the SCAN website. The benefits have been felt already in the consistency of entries across diverse archives in Scotland, and they will go on being felt, as catalogues are extended to item level. The main benefit, ultimately, will be for the user, who will find it easier to navigate and find resources.

4.3 International

SCAN has set a welcome precedent in leading the way in Scotland in the adoption of the agreed definitions, terminology and standards of the International Council on Archives and in the implementation of the name authority standards of the National Council on Archives. The project has also made a significant contribution to the European Union Archive Network, more information on which can be found at www.euan.org.

4.4 Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU)

There will be a significant legacy for the archive community in the work SCAN has undertaken with the GSU. In solving the problems that all archives will face in planning conversion of original historical material, SCAN and GSU have developed solutions that can safely address the key issues of preservation and access. In addition the working relationship between the GSU and SCAN project has already led to the GSU committing more volunteer resources to digitise the Kirk Session records in Scotland.

5. Assumptions

The project assumed the continuing support of the HLF, the NAS and the GSU and at the levels given in the cost summary attached to the project submission in the original PID. It assumed that the HLF would agree contracts and make payments timeously and would answer requests for decisions within two weeks of receiving the request. Although these assumptions have proved generally correct, the HLF have not always answered requests for decisions within two weeks.

The relationship with HLF stretches over seven years. The first significant contact came as a result of the initial application for funding. Dr Barnes and Rob Mildren met with Seamus Ross (HLF IT Advisor) and Jane Stancliffe (HLF Senior Case Officer) in June 1996 to discuss the initial application. Following advice and encouragement from HLF representatives, the project was re-designed and submitted again in 1998.

Throughout the lifetime of the SCAN project, the HLF has closely monitored progress and assigned not only a case officer but also two project monitors, Mike Smethurst and Seamus Ross. They have been responsible for monitoring the monthly reports and for advising the HLF on the direction taken by the SCAN project team. In addition there have been regular (quarterly) meetings involving the case officer, project monitors and senior project staff. In this way the project monitors have been intimately involved in many of the key decisions regarding the project. It would be fair to say that the relationship was not always smooth. There was a very fine line to tread between monitoring the project and directing the project. This caused severe friction when dealing with the issue of image quality but proved far more positive on the issue of the educational content of the website. It should be recognized that the HLF showed a great deal of faith and foresight in supporting the SCAN project which, at the time, was based on largely unproven technology and concepts. The counterbalance to this was to ensure that the levels of monitoring were high and that there was a reliance on performance indicators which were often difficult to establish or measure. Over the later years, however, the relationship has improved significantly as the production of quantifiable deliverables has increased.

The support of the Genealogical Society of Utah has in practice far exceeded their legal obligations. The GSU were approached primarily for a cash contribution towards the project to help with the partnership funding. After initial discussions it was clear the GSU too were considering digital technology as an alternative to their microfilm projects and that this would be an ideal opportunity for them to become fully involved and learn more about the implications for a digital project as opposed to a microfilm project.

GSU agreed to supply the eleven staff that had been identified as necessary for the digital capture of the testaments. They would supply a full time supervisor and five volunteer couples. GSU had been experimenting with a camera and software that would simplify the image capture process. They agreed to produce colour images and adapted the software to produce a very high quality colour image from a greyscale camera taking three images shot separately through red, green and blue filters. The software provided a major breakthrough in the project. Not only would the throughput be high but the software would handle other aspects of the capture process such as the file naming, storing and creation of process metadata. This simplified the operator involvement, reduced operator training times and reduced operator error. They supplied one camera for the project along with the software (dCam). This proved so successful that, when the open procurement competition failed to provide an effective alternative, it formed the blueprint for the camera configuration that successfully completed the digitisation of the testaments within budget and timescale.

The relationship with the GSU throughout the project remained very good. The contract negotiations allowed the archive to address the key issues of document handling and training. The GSU agreed that all their staff would abide by SCAN handling guidelines and underwent training in advance of working with the original material. Weekly meetings with the GSU supervisor ensured that the workplan was well known to both sides and issues could be dealt with quickly. Senior GSU staff also showed a great deal of interest in the project and frequently met with SCAN project staff. The GSU were able to benefit from the practical experience gained as well as the establishment of a successful workflow, lessons that they were subsequently able to extend to more digital imaging projects.

The assumption that all participating archives would actively support the project proved correct, although some took longer to commit to the project than others.

With guidance from the HLF, SCAN established a Participating Archives Working Group. This group was to act as both a sounding board for project ideas and also as a lobby group for the majority of archives who were sceptical about the overwhelming influence that the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) would exert on the project. The forum itself only met infrequently but meetings were also held with the full group of participating archives. The most positive outcome of these was the decision to extend the CALM licensing that the NAS had selected to interested participating archives. This initiative was supported by the HLF monitors and made a significant impact. More than 20 archives now have the same cataloguing software, have had training and can maintain and enhance the catalogue entries created during the project. The rollout of licences was successfully completed and was very well received. In addition to the PCs that had been supplied earlier in the project these were significant and tangible assets for the archive community in Scotland and create an excellent foundation for further development. The participating archives played an essential role and have now taken responsibility for the next major development in Scottish archive catalogues with the application for the Mac2A project.

A number of archive institutions also sought to join the partnership during the life of the project raising the total number of participating archives from forty five to fifty two by the end of the project.

The assumption that the NAS would wholly support the project proved problematic. NAS fully supported the project at a senior management level, but in practice there was confusion and scepticism over the aims of the project, and how it dovetailed with other NAS activities. In areas where the project was doing identical work to NAS, such as conservation, this took time to resolve.

The Historical Search Room was cooperative in withdrawing the testaments from public use and providing surrogate copies and NAS staff employed in all the record cataloguing branches played a valuable role in compiling the new NAS top level finding aid to replace the existing Summary Catalogue. Although staff from Outreach and Education Branch made a valuable contribution in terms of providing access to material for electronic exhibitions and publications, their support was not as critical as previously assumed. Full cooperation between existing NAS conservation staff and SCAN conservation staff, however, took longer than anticipated to develop. In retrospect it may have been a more satisfactory solution for SCAN to have commissioned the necessary conservation resource direct from NAS. This would have allowed the NAS conservation team greater flexibility in deploying its staff and meeting the targets set by the SCAN project.

While the NAS had agreed to provide suitably qualified staff on secondment to the project, as and when necessary, it was found that while the NAS has been willing to carry out its obligations it had been unable to do so because of the lack of availability of suitably qualified staff. The difficulty SCAN has had in appointing and retaining suitably qualified staff has been mirrored in the NAS itself. This has also had a major impact on the online catalogues sub-project.

There appear to be several key reasons for the high turnover

• younger archival staff are keener to develop a 'portfolio' career whereby they build experience by spending shorter periods in more varied posts
• archival staff who had recently left University with student debt were keener to accept short contracts where the salary was higher rather than rely on a slower, reliable progression within a pay band
• there were a lot of attractive archival projects underway at the same time
• new staff wanted to work on a wider range of activities

Relations with the NAS relied heavily on the continued support of senior management, particularly the former and current Keepers, Patrick Cadell and George MacKenzie. The view assumed by many participating archives was that the project was seen as wholly owned by NAS. In direct contrast to this, many staff in NAS were suspicious of SCAN. Whilst the decision to house the full project team at TTH was essential in fostering the good team spirit and level of communication evident within the SCAN project, it meant that the many NAS staff would see it as distant and separate from their day to day activities. This underlined the case that SCAN was indeed additional to the NAS but also fostered a reluctance to co-operate unreservedly.

Staff, personnel and welfare matters were mainly handled by the Scottish Executive Human Resources Division throughout the project, although in some instances it was more convenient for the project to engage casual staff directly in order to overcome restrictive Scottish Executive recruitment policies. This approach was encouraged by the HLF monitors and was an invaluable source of flexibility when dealing with staffing issues.

It was assumed that all public orders relating to copies of wills that have been digitised were dealt with by SCAN staff and the revenue earned from these transactions was retained by the project.

6. Social & Political Context

6.1 The Scottish Archive Community

Scotland has a diverse arrangement of archive services. In addition to the national institutions, the NAS and the National Library of Scotland, most of the 32 local authorities have archives, and, at the time of writing, others are in the process of setting them up. There are different models: some services are predominantly historical, with considerable expertise in the records of the predecessor authorities, particularly the older Scottish burghs. The collections of the cities of Aberdeen and Dundee, for example, are especially rich. Other authorities, such as South Lanarkshire, provide records management services in addition to looking after older records. Some services are located directly within the corporate management structure of the authority, others are managed along with libraries and in one or two cases they come under the museum service. In some cases imaginative joint service arrangements have been put in place, such as in Ayrshire, where a single archive serves three local authorities. There is no statutory basis for the services, though the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act of 2002 is prompting authorities that have not established archive and record services to do so. Local authorities have not, in the past, given particular priority to their archive services, and funding levels are generally low. At the outset of the SCAN project, for example, few had proper ICT facilities and most had no email or Internet services.

The older universities all have archives, and many of the newer ones have also established them. The collections of the universities vary, but generally include the institution's own records, papers of eminent staff, and other material that has been donated or collected. The University of Glasgow has particularly extensive holdings of business archives. The university archives have benefited in the past few years from funding streams to develop and enhance research collections. These have led to higher standards of cataloguing and better access than in the local authorities. A few of Scotland's health authorities have also provided archive services, and two of the strongest are located in Glasgow and Edinburgh, using space in the universities, but funded by local NHS bodies. There are also a range of specialist archives, ranging from the Scottish Theatre Archive to the Clan Donald Trust. These are generally small scale operations with a single professional archivist, and a range of funding from voluntary and private sources.

The SCAN project brings together 51 of these diverse services, representing virtually all the local authorities, all the universities and health authorities, and all the specialist archives that have professional archivists in post.

6.2 Funding Archives

Archives in Scotland, especially those outside the central government and higher education sector, have suffered from lack of attention and funding. An Archival Account of Scotland in 1999 , produced by a consortium of national and local archive services, revealed chronic under-funding leading to poor and unacceptable practices. Against this background, the funding from the SCAN project was particularly valuable, and enabled some local authority archives to benefit from PCs and Internet connections for the first time. The publicity which the project has generated has also helped to focus attention, by the public and by officials, on the richness of Scotland's archival heritage and the ways it can be used for self discovery and learning, and the promotion of tourism.

On the positive side, Scotland's archives continue to attract growing numbers of customers, mainly those interested in the history of their families, their houses and their local communities. These now account for about two thirds of visitors to archive services. The growth in interest in such personal history since 1996 has amply justified the decision to include the wills in the project. The statistics from the National Archives indicate an increase in genealogical researchers from 44.5% of the total researchers to 51.3% over the same period.

6.3 Virtual Access