Ten years of ScotlandsPeople

It's been ten years since the ScotlandsPeople website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) was first launched, a follow up site to a short lived predecessor, Scots Origins, but one which took the concept of placing state records online - and in an affordable manner - to a whole new level.

ScotlandsPeople is the online platform for Scottish state records, a site managed by Dundee based Brightsolid Ltd (previously known as Scotland Online), which manages content supplied by the National Records of Scotland, the Court of the Lord Lyon, and more recently, the Scottish Catholic Archives. At present there is no other site like it in the United Kingdom, though the GRO in Northern Ireland is actively seeking to replicate its success with the creation of a similar project next year. Quite why the Scottish GRO has been able to get such a service up and running now for a decade in the way that the English GRO spectacularly has not is a debate that may last for another ten years at the rate things are (not) developing down south - but the ScotlandsPeople project is a truly spectacular example of what a government can do when it puts the interests of its people first and foremost on both its cultural and history based agendas.

The ScotlandsPeople Centre
in Edinburgh - a national
resource fit for purpose

Those outside Scotland may not be aware of the extension of the brand in recent times to not only include the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh (www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk), but now to regional heritage hub centres working in partnership with archives across the country, with additional hubs now available at Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and soon Hawick, and with more to come. ScotlandsPeople is truly becoming more than just a hobby site for Scotland's people, but an important facility for connecting a nation to its true personal heritage - one of the country's most important resources as it continues to carve out its unique national identity in a post-devolution world. The name is not just a gimmick, but a mission statement - and long may it continue to reign!

To all the ScotlandsPeople team in both Edinburgh and Dundee, happy birthday, and I hope a wee bit of bubbly is flowing today! You've helped this proud Norn Irish Paddy take even more pride in being a Jock - here's to the next ten years of likewise helping others learn the true definition of nobility as they too seek to uncover their own Scottish roots!

Chris

Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)