Today’s Guardian reports that family historians (both professional and amateur) have raised concerns over the lack access being given to paper-based archives. The report says, “There will never again be public access to the paper records.”

The problem is that the schedule for putting the paper material under lock and key and the go-live date for a replacement online version is; surprise, surprise, out of sync. It seems there has been a gap in the timetable of digitising the original material and providing members of the public access to legible resources.

As the paper records are no longer there, anyone conducting genealogical research will instead have to make-do with microfiche until the online system is completed.

According to the Guardian report, the researchers have concerns about both the legibility of material held in microfiche, and the daunting task of having to search through it. They resent being forced to use old and clunky technology until the new digitised system is up and running. “Not even God himself is going to be able to find most of this stuff” said one amateur researcher.

Sarah Williams, Editor of BBC TV show spin-off magazine, Who Do You Think You Are? said; “The sweetener was that the paper records would be replaced by a superior digital version. But to loose one before the other is ready is a highly questionable decision”

A spokesperson for the Office for National Statistics, which is responsible for the General Records Office says, “When our project to create a massive online index of 250 million births, marriages and deaths is complete, it will dramatically improve public access to information of interest to family historians.” They went on to say, “The present target is to have the online index available by mid-2009”

Until that present target is either met (or moves) then some researchers may want to polish up their microfiche skills, they are going to need them for a while yet.