Hello All. Robert WILLIAMS from Ulster Ancestry sent this very informative reply to the Fermanagh-Gold list when I asked him about the new PRONI building in Belfast.. He has given me permission to post it to other lists, so here it is. I hope that some listers will be interested in his comments. Regards to all. Ray in Oz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ulster Ancestry" <ulsterancestry@hotmail.com> ... You have asked about the new PRONI building, well I was in on Monday for my 12th visit since they opened in April > and I am gradually coming to terms with the place. > > The new PRONi has its pros and cons. > > On the upside it is a wonderful brand new purpose built Archive which will > serve us for the next 100 years. > It is situated in what was the old Harland and Wolff shipyard in east > Belfast now known as Titanic Quarter > For those looking for a place to stay there is a budget hotel The Premier > Inn on Queens Road just across from the archive so it is very convenient > should you need inexpensive accomodation during your visit. > > The building itself is very 21st century, big, bright, airy and the staff > are marvellous being both friendly and well informed. > You will find them aplenty in their smart new uniforms and are ready with > advice and direction to those who need it. > > New visitors on arrival must register and are given your own swipe card > The user number is used to order up documents a bar code on the card opens > the various doors. > Registration is fast and simple. Some form of photographic ID is needed > Lockers are on the ground floor. You need a £1 coin to operate these. It > is returnable when you leave. > The cafeteria is also on the ground floor. It offers a full breakfast menu > in the morning, lunch menu between 12 and 2 pm and fresh coffee cakes and > scones throughout the day. > It is not expensive. > > Now as to the repository itself. > > The building is big and clearly has been designed by a young person with > young people in mind. > It has the look of a small regional airport terminal building about it > The main reading and search rooms are located on the first floor and there > are stairs and one lift {The lift broke down one day I was there } > Upstairs in the search room, the most popular facility, is as always, the > Church records. These are primarily on microfilm. Now the problem is they > have only provided 20 microfilm readers and these fill up quite quickly > and are pushed into a tiny area at the far end of the search room > resulting in 95 % of the public users being crammed into about 5% of the > available floor space. This situation has been brought to the management's > attention and I am sure they will address it, hopefully sooner rather than > later. The area is also too bright. The light needs to be reduced {There > are window blinds but they cannot be drawn due to a "health and safety" > issue} > > Documents are ordered up in the search room on the computer terminals > provided. > The paper catalogues, which were so indispensible and unique to PRONI have > been withdrawn. Everything has now been transfered to the e. catalogue > and while this is I suppose progress it makes finding what you are after > difficult. With the paper catalogues we could browse and find a full and > detailed listing and breakdown for any collection, but with the e > catalogue you get a one line description. The result is that you might > order out several items before finding the correct one. This adds greatly > to any visiting researcher's limited time. > > The reading room {where the documents are produced} is some distance from > the search room {where the documents are ordered] so a good deal of > walking back and forth between the two is involved. This is both tireing > and time consumming. Its not an ideal arrangement at all. > > On the plus side the documents are being produced much faster than before > and the photocopying service has also improved. > There is a new facility for digital photography in the reading room > > The whole thing will take a little getting used to. I miss the old > "homely" atmosphere of Balmoral where everything was readily to hand and > users could fly around the place and from room to room in no time at all. > We just knew where things were to be found. > However progress is progress and in time we will adapt and learn to love > this new building, I am sure. > Its going to be around a lot longer than we are! > > > best regards > Robert > www.ulsterancestry.com