ScotlandsPeople centre or the Mitchell library?

[lunalovegood]

I'm fairly new to family history research and I've achieved quite a lot using the ScotlandsPeople website. It's so easy to spend £7 on credits and use it up in a flash, so I would rather pay £15 for a whole day's research at either the ScotlandsPeople centre or the Mitchell library. I'm wondering which is the better option, as I'm a lot closer to Glasgow than Edinburgh, but it wouldn't be a problem to make the trip to Edinburgh if the facilities are better there. At this stage, I'm really only interested in BMDs, census records, OPR and Catholic church records. The Mitchell website says that you can search the digitised images for all these records (excluding the Catholic ones and 1911 census?) in their Registars Genealogy Centre - is the search facility as straightforward as the SP website? Also, are you allowed to save images to USB stick, as you are at the SP centre (for a 50p charge)?

[GR2]

I've never used the Mitchell Library for BMDs, but have always gone to Edinburgh. What I find most useful about going to Edinburgh is that I can look at hundreds of certificates in a day and certainly get my money's worth. You have also access to very recent entries. It is good, for example, if you are looking at every birth or death in a particular parish with a particular surname to establish families. You have also access to the census and wills, which, again, you can see with out having to pay individually for viewing them. Although you say you are not interested at the moment in entries from the OPRs, if you do find from a BMD someone born or married before 1855, you have instant acces to the OPR to confirm parents etc. Provided you go there with a plan and know what you are going to look for, I think a visit is better than using their site at home. If you only want a few certificates and they are very obvious ones, perhaps then it would be more cost-effective to research on-line at home.

Graham.

[IMBER]

Also worth bearing in mind that it's possible to access ALL records at any Registrar in Scotland.  Whether it makes sense to use that option depends on how many records are being sought and costs, which can be expensive. For that reason it's best to enquire beforehand.

[lunalovegood]

Thanks for the replies. I'd like to be able to access lots of records in the one day - have had a few instances of wasting SP credits on a record that turns out to be the wrong person, so a whole day's research with no fear of wasting credits sounds good. I just wonder if the Mitchell's search facility is as good as the SP centre in Edinburgh.

[MonicaL]

Hi lunalovegood

There are a couple of people here on RootsChat who I know visit the Mitchell Library regularly for family research. I have sent them a message to see whether they can join the post and give you further info regarding the Mitchell Library 

In the meantime, you can look at this short series of films on family research at the Mitchell Library which gives you an idea of the some of the resources and archives they hold.

www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,522720.0.html

Yokerbrian's comments in Reply #6 also provide useful additional info on that post.

The Strathclyde Area Genealogy Centre (previously referred to as Park Circus) has only just relocated to the Mitchell Library from 21 March this year, see www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,520757.0.html

Monica 

[gerryfarrell]

I personally pay the extra for the train fare to edinburgh simply because I can cross the road and I'm there, I believe and please correct me if I'm wrong that the dgros system they have in glasgow doesn't include the 1911 census yet??

It should be noted also that although the catholic records are on Scotlands People they are NOT searchable in the Scotlandspeople Centre in Edinburgh.

[apanderson]

After having a conversation with one of the staff at Glasgow, she confirmed that they do have the 1911 Census although if I understood her correctly, it's only on some of the computers, not all of them.

Anne

[lunalovegood]

MonicaL (I am also a Monica!), thanks for the interesting video link. It didn't mention anything about searching for BMDs, although I think that is done in the Registrars centre rather than the Family History centre. I didn't realise that Poor Law records could contain such a wealth of information, and that has spurred me on to check whether there is a record of my great-grandfather and his siblings, who were orphaned as children.

Gerryfarrell, it's good you pointed that out about the Catholic records, I hadn't noticed their omission!

Apanderson, I'm glad they have the 1911 census. I haven't yet started on my maternal grandfather's line, so that will come in handy.

[gerryfarrell]

Monica,

Those video's were made before Park Circus moved to the Mitchell library, but your right although they are housed together they are separate sections.
The poor law can hold a fantastic amount of information from where born, to all the places the applicant has lived (Including which house in a common close.. 2 up left hand side etc) to what siblings and other family members  they had. I found a sister to my GGfather this way and also the fact that she was in & out of prison continuously.
To search the poor law you go to the archives on the 2nd floor and they are searchable by surname, date and place of birth of the applicant. Remember this could be in either married or maiden name for a female and can also be by their children's names depending on why they were applying.

Finally.... Not sure if your close to Motherwell but Dr O'Brien is giving a talk on the poor law this Thurs 12th May at The Lanarkshire Family History Society speakers evening, Glo Centre Muir St Motherwell (Across from the train station) from 7pm - 9pm. Its free and open for anyone to attend.

Gerry