Using the new National Archives of Ireland catalogue

Readers of this blog will know that I was less than impressed with the new National Archives of Ireland website, and in particular the new catalogue, after its launch last week. Having been unable to establish how to access collections that were previously available, I emailed the archive and asked for some guidance. Archivist Elizabeth McEvoy has kindly replied with a step through guide, which I hope she won't mind me sharing. In particular I asked how to find the material in the  Dáil Éireann and Famine Relief Commission papers databases:

In order to access these databases, please follow these instructions on the "Search the archives" page at www.nationalarchives.ie/search-the-archives/:

1) Click on 'Advanced search" on the left hand column as indicated in the screenshot below

2) In the "archive creator" box at the bottom, either type in "Famine Relief Commission" or select it from the list by clicking on the icon box to the right of the "archive creator" box

3) In the "Word(s) from the title / content" box at the top, input the requested name or keyword and then click "Search"

4) The number of results found for the keyword will be returned eg "Found results: 100" - the results are then listed page by page The same steps apply for the Dáil Éireann papers which are listed as "Dáil Éireann" in the list (click on the icon box to the right of the "archive creator" box)

(With many thanks to Elizabeth McEvoy.)

COMMENT: I get it now, and it seems to work fine, though I still find it a bit footery. I would humbly suggest that the site does offer up some form of tutorial, however, for those who have yet to have the pleasure of reading this blog! :)

Chris