Monday, June 05, 2006

COCP Newsletter No 8

Hello folks

The sun is shining in Cornwall! I should be gardening, but when I get up there I just sit and look at it all growing - weeds and plants!

While I have been away you have all been busy - three 1871 pieces and one 1861 have come in. They should all be online in a week or so.

Once a month, Rick produces stats for the COCP search engine. For May it never took less than 200 searches per day, and most well above that, several times hitting 400. This is a good indication of how much your work is being used - which of course, is the whole point.

The sister project of the COCP is C-PROP, the Online Parish Register Project. The database is now up and running and we have started to upload transcripts. At the moment we are trying to restrict use to the OPC scheme members, but I will keep you posted.

A subject that comes up quite often is the UK 2011 census returns. The National Archives have just said:

"The 1911 census is a huge document – more than 12 times the size of the 1901 census, with 35,000 volumes containing the details of our 35 million ancestors and occupying some 2 kilometres of shelving. They are in good condition and suitable for scanning, with less than 5 per cent requiring more extensive conservation work to be scanned safely.

By far the best option for providing access to the census is online delivery, making the returns available to the widest possible audience and preserving the integrity of the original records. Proposals are well underway to find the very best company to work with us in order to provide a good reliable service for millions of potential users. We have published our requirements in the Official Journal of the European Union and over the next couple of months will seek to create a shortlist of potential suppliers.

Learning from previous experience and building on our current plans, The National Archives is eagerly looking forward to launching the 1911 census online in January 2012."

These returns are the actual householder schedules; not enumerators' books. This is good news, because up to now rumour control has had it that this was mission impossible.

As this is so long, I will cut out the usual whinging! And just take the opportunity to thank you all again for all your support.

Onward and Upward!!!!!