During this period there will be no access for members of the public and documents will not be available for consultation. The closure takes place every year in order to update the storage inventory, to identify documents that are in need of repair, and to re-arrange and rationalise storage in order to provide space for new archives. This is to ensure that everything possible is done to preserve Northern Ireland’s archival heritage and to make it accessible to the public. Time is also devoted during the closure to staff training and development.
PRONI holds literally millions of unique documents that are held on 54km of shelving in environmentally controlled stores. The task of checking the documents is a major one. A large archive may consist of thousands of documents that have to be cleaned, sorted, catalogued and indexed before they can be made available to the public.
PRONI will be moving to new accommodation in Titanic Quarter and preparations for decanting the records have already commenced. The two week closure will provide an opportunity for a more concentrated effort in checking, boxing and labelling the records in advance of their move.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
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