Will the Effects of COVID-19 Change the Way Genealogists Do Research?

The working world has been forced to change the way we operate as a direct result of COVID-19. Significantly the various enforced lockdowns have led to a realisation that certain jobs can be performed remotely, given access to appropriate tools and information. The same could be said for genealogical research.

Over the years researchers in the genealogy space have benefited massively from various digitisation projects which have made documentation, previously only accessible in a physical archive building, available at the click of a mouse. Not only has this process provided greater access to a global audience but it has also ensured the preservation of archived material. Here one immediately thinks of the fire at the Public Record Office in Dublin in 1922 which destroyed numerous valuable records. The digitisation projects are mammoth and costly, with full digitisation a long way off. But the temporary closure of libraries and archives as a direct result of COVID-19 has shown that this is the way to go. Genealogists shouldn’t be restricted to physically accessing a building to see some documentation. This becomes a real problem when the document you want is only available in an archive based in another country.

So am I suggesting we close down archives or limit the public’s access to them? Absolutely not. Archives and archivists provide a critical service including their part in the digitisation projects and the management of the archives both in paper and digitally. An archivist is also a point of reference when you need guidance or further information. What I am saying is that far more genealogical work can be and should be done online as long as the information is available digitally. Where it isn’t available digitally, collaboration with other researchers can help with visits to foreign located archives. I have also heard people when given research gathered online state that they could have done it themselves. This may be true but in many instances you still need to where and how to find the information you are looking for. For example, how many people know how to search for Irish Memorials of Deeds on FamilySearch? The point is you still need a genealogist to do the research even if the information is available online.

With all this in mind I will be posting a list in the next few days of my favourite and most useful online resources for researching ancestors from Southern Ireland.