Hello Sheila, Kevin and list, I am leaving for Dublin on the 18th October. I am being joined by two genealogy/photography experienced cousins from Massachusetts to help me research films rapidly at NLI and take photos of graveyards and tombstones to share online. The National Library of Ireland allows no copies, no scans, and no photographs of records. All must be read, studied, copied by hand, versus America where copies are inexpensively available and studied in quiet at home--where relationships, timeframes, naming patterns, religious divisions, Irish geography, communities may be digested for more clues of our ancestors. It is very challenging. I often am learning the process and finding things on the way out of town. It is very frustrating. I am searching not just for myself, but for three others who are dying to gather some information on their families. Not to mention my own multiple family lines! I can only stay 10 days because I have to work for a living and only get few weeks a year vacation. I am only good at researching those difficult films for 5 hours straight. My eyes can take no more. My husband accompanied me one year and said the libraries there had the worst maintained microfiche machines he had ever seen. He was a regional service manager for a large Microfiche/computer firm in US and he cleaned the Irish microfiche lenses the best he could while we were using it. I research everywhere in the USA, as one cannot get his/her Irish ancestor home unless they have done the research well in America. NOWHERE (not even the notorious Holy Cross Cemetery at Malden, MA) makes it more difficult to research the ancestors than Ireland, and West Cork. I envy other locations in Ireland where baptisms back to 1860 are on line, but for some reason, there just isn't the priority in West Cork to help us study our heritage. West Cork needs it the most. The people and places are lovely, the records are plentiful, but yes, there is some political funny business going on, and I heard of a case just recently that boggles my mind. But it means the focus is on other things than helping people find their roots and learning what happened to the Irish people from Bantry, Inchigeela, Drinagh, Drimoleague, Rosscarbery & Dunmanway. How did they make it in this world, and what became of them? Some of us have those answers and are willing to share this historical emigration from Ireland. Ireland would do well to take heed. I am spending more time this visit in Waterford because Willie Whelan at the Waterford Museum is anxious to pull some research online for his county. I will go where the action is. But some of my people are from West Cork. My dream is to spend a month--or a summer living in Ireland doing the research I need to accomplish---every year! I need to figure out how. A Heritage Center similar to the one in Skibbereen would be delightful. They are knowledgeable (on some limited genealogical resources), and wonderful to work with. The costs to me have been minimal. But they don't cover as many locations in West Cork or incorporate enough resources to be called a full fledged Heritage Center. They would be best to hire a Historian with gusto--like Willie Whelan and roll that data in. They are even e-mail competent and responsive, although I am never certain of their funding. They don't meet my needs. Sorry to be so wordy, list, but I am on a roll and headed for Ireland. And I have a plan for someday.... Regards, Candi in California http://www.corbinconnections.com/