Too bad they won't let us volunteer to be system testers! I know many of us who don't have the opportunity to search in person will welcome this service, even though it certainly won't be free. Joy/MO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Iain McKenzie" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 5:13 AM Subject: Re: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi >I understand that the Kirk Session records will eventually form part of the > Scotlandspeople website. The team that digitised the Wills and Testaments > section of Scotlandspeople is currently working flat out to digitise the > Kirk Session minutes. I understand that the first stage of the roll-out of > the internet version, target date March 2007, will be to churches and > local > authorities. > > Digitising the documents does not seem to be a problem. However, indexing > them has been. The time required to produce a comprehensive index would > add > years to the completion date for the project. SCAN, who are doing the > digitising, has devised a relatively simple index based on parish name and > year. How well it will work in practice will only be discovered once the > project is available to go on line. > > Iain McKenzie > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Sheila Perry" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 9:34 AM > Subject: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi > > >> Hi all, >> Re the query about Kirk Session records. In my experience (which >> admittedly is for Angus rather than Argyll) the amount of information on >> these tends to reflect the general state of the church records so you >> might not necessarily find extra births etc. However in the case of the >> records for 'my' parish in Angus, which is a rural one (Lintrathen), >> there >> are quite extensive lists from time to time of, for instance, all the >> heads of household in communion at a certain date, which may well be of >> use in tracking someone down even if you don't have a birth record. I >> think the records will probably vary such a lot from one parish to >> another >> that it's impossible to predict whether any of this kind of list will be >> included. >> At the National Archives you can view most of the Kirk Session records on >> computer screen although they are not available online - I don't know if >> there is a plan to put them on line or not. >> Hope this helps, >> best wishes, >> Sheila Perry >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Ian, isn't there some kind of software that can index? I would think someone has developed that in this day and age. Jane -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of joy Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 7:36 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi Too bad they won't let us volunteer to be system testers! I know many of us who don't have the opportunity to search in person will welcome this service, even though it certainly won't be free. Joy/MO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Iain McKenzie" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 5:13 AM Subject: Re: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi >I understand that the Kirk Session records will eventually form part of the > Scotlandspeople website. The team that digitised the Wills and Testaments > section of Scotlandspeople is currently working flat out to digitise the > Kirk Session minutes. I understand that the first stage of the roll-out of > the internet version, target date March 2007, will be to churches and > local > authorities. > > Digitising the documents does not seem to be a problem. However, indexing > them has been. The time required to produce a comprehensive index would > add > years to the completion date for the project. SCAN, who are doing the > digitising, has devised a relatively simple index based on parish name and > year. How well it will work in practice will only be discovered once the > project is available to go on line. > > Iain McKenzie > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Sheila Perry" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 9:34 AM > Subject: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi > > >> Hi all, >> Re the query about Kirk Session records. In my experience (which >> admittedly is for Angus rather than Argyll) the amount of information on >> these tends to reflect the general state of the church records so you >> might not necessarily find extra births etc. However in the case of the >> records for 'my' parish in Angus, which is a rural one (Lintrathen), >> there >> are quite extensive lists from time to time of, for instance, all the >> heads of household in communion at a certain date, which may well be of >> use in tracking someone down even if you don't have a birth record. I >> think the records will probably vary such a lot from one parish to >> another >> that it's impossible to predict whether any of this kind of list will be >> included. >> At the National Archives you can view most of the Kirk Session records on >> computer screen although they are not available online - I don't know if >> there is a plan to put them on line or not. >> Hope this helps, >> best wishes, >> Sheila Perry >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.408 / Virus Database: 268.13.4/476 - Release Date: 10/14/2006

I'm not in a position to know what software might exist to aid indexing. What I do know is the size of the project. There are about ten thousand volumes of Kirk Session minutes, and each volume has about two hundred pages - 2 million pieces of paper. It is straightforward enough to index on parish and year, but what else might you want to index on. SCAN started with an indexing profile of about 20 headings. This proved to be impractically large. In the end they decided to reduce this to the minimum practical number. This would allow indexing to keep pace with digitisation. More detailed indexing may be considered later. Iain McKenzie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Jane Mckenzie" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 8:20 PM Subject: Re: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi > Ian, isn't there some kind of software that can index? I would think > someone > has developed that in this day and age. > Jane >

Dear Joy, I think you will find that, if you are keen to volunteer for a place on this project, your help will be appreciated. Much of the digitising work is being done by members of the LDS Church. Someone to contact in the first instance is Kirsty Forbes ( [email protected] ). Kirsty is Online Resources Archivist at the National Archives of Scotland. Kind Regards Iain McKenzie ----- Original Message ----- From: "joy" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 2:35 PM Subject: Re: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi > Too bad they won't let us volunteer to be system testers! > I know many of us who don't have the opportunity to search in person will > welcome this service, even though it certainly won't be free. > > Joy/MO > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Iain McKenzie" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 5:13 AM > Subject: Re: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi > > >>I understand that the Kirk Session records will eventually form part of >>the >> Scotlandspeople website. The team that digitised the Wills and Testaments >> section of Scotlandspeople is currently working flat out to digitise the >> Kirk Session minutes. I understand that the first stage of the roll-out >> of >> the internet version, target date March 2007, will be to churches and >> local >> authorities. >> >> Digitising the documents does not seem to be a problem. However, indexing >> them has been. The time required to produce a comprehensive index would >> add >> years to the completion date for the project. SCAN, who are doing the >> digitising, has devised a relatively simple index based on parish name >> and >> year. How well it will work in practice will only be discovered once the >> project is available to go on line. >> >> Iain McKenzie >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Sheila Perry" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Monday, October 16, 2006 9:34 AM >> Subject: [ARGYLL] kirk session records vs igi >> >> >>> Hi all, >>> Re the query about Kirk Session records. In my experience (which >>> admittedly is for Angus rather than Argyll) the amount of information on >>> these tends to reflect the general state of the church records so you >>> might not necessarily find extra births etc. However in the case of the >>> records for 'my' parish in Angus, which is a rural one (Lintrathen), >>> there >>> are quite extensive lists from time to time of, for instance, all the >>> heads of household in communion at a certain date, which may well be of >>> use in tracking someone down even if you don't have a birth record. I >>> think the records will probably vary such a lot from one parish to >>> another >>> that it's impossible to predict whether any of this kind of list will be >>> included. >>> At the National Archives you can view most of the Kirk Session records >>> on >>> computer screen although they are not available online - I don't know if >>> there is a plan to put them on line or not. >>> Hope this helps, >>> best wishes, >>> Sheila Perry >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >>> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >