UK public records to go digital

NEWS The UK Public Records Office (PRO) has revealed that it will be digitising its data from the 1901 census and making it available on the Internet. Web surfers will be able to research their genealogy in this trial scheme - but at a cost, the PRO warned. Searching for family records is one of the most popular activities on the Internet, as indicated last week when 100 million people a day attempted to log on to the newest genealogy site opened by the Mormon Church, http://www.familysearch.org . The project will be online by 2002 - in time for the scheduled release of 1901 census data, embargoed for a hundred years. It will be completed with private finance and the service will be chargeable, although no decision has been made about the price, which will "take account of social inclusivity". The PRO was not able to say whether the present system of access, which is free, will continue, but pointed to a much improved service available via the Internet that will enable users to search by a number of different criteria.