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Eighty years of cataloguing goes online

Monday, 2 February 2009

Searching for public records has been made much easier with the addition of a million catalogue entries available online to a worldwide audience.

Speaking ahead of the launch of eCATNI (Electronic Catalogue NI) at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), the Culture Minister Gregory Campbell said: “Over 170,000 pages of information held at PRONI are now available electronically on the internet. This is a tremendous move forward which will allow the public to carry out initial research at a time and place that is convenient to them.

“Many people will be able to do their preliminary work before they visit, allowing them more time to spend in consulting the documents when they arrive at PRONI. This will be of particular interest to family historians, especially those from overseas.

“PRONI plans to build on this initiative by adding new material to its web site in 2009/10, including the pre-1900 Street Directories and a database of wills pre-1858.”

The Minister also referred to the relocation of PRONI to its new purpose built premises in the Titanic Quarter, Belfast. The new £30million headquarters, which is scheduled for completion in late 2010, will provide state of the art facilities which will encourage a wider community involvement in accessing the unique assets that PRONI holds.

Notes to Editors:

  1. eCATNI represents a £1.4million investment in improving access to the archives. The PRONI website received 1.2million visits in 2007/08. This number is expected to grow as more material is provided on-line. PRONI was established under the Public Records Act (NI) 1923 for the reception and preservation of public records. The 1923 Act also made provision for the deposit of private records in PRONI. Plans are well under way in preparation for the move of PRONI’s 54km of records which cover every aspect of life from the Minutes of Cabinet Meetings to records of a local corner shop – from the thoughts and actions of the ‘great and the good’ to the reminiscences of the working man. The oldest document is a 13th Century Papal Bull.
  2. Media enquiries to DCAL Press Office, Tel: 028 9025 8901 or email: press.office@dcalni.gov.uk . Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.