Carmarthenshire County Council have reported a rise in the number of people in the community researching their family trees, thanks to the free availability of online resources.
Prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, free access to Ancestry UK was only available via public computers in the local library buildings. Yet during the pandemic, Ancestry UK allowed library users to access its resources from home, using their local council websites.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic over 155,000 searches have been recorded by Carmarthenshire library members, taking advantage of free access to Ancestry UK from home. It is an increase of 220% compared to the previous year, and more than any libraries in Wales.
Perhaps, this shows that the pandemic has prompted people to think about their lives and where they come from, taking to researching their family history – making use of the free facilities available to them, when access to public libraries is not possible.
Ancestry Library Edition covers both UK and international databases and gives access to census records, indexes of births, marriages and deaths, chapel registers, military records, wills and more.
Cllr Peter Hughes Griffiths said,
“Many residents have clearly used the lockdown to explore the stories of their own families and homes. These impressive figures demonstrate the popularity of the highly valued family and local history services provided by our libraries. As well as increasing our sense of identity, researching the lives of our ancestors and local areas help us understand how our communities have developed and changed. It also reminds us that our ancestors lived through challenging times too and overcame them – an important message during these hard times.”
Anyone who lives, works or studies in Carmarthenshire can enjoy the digital library for free by becoming a member.
As well as Ancestry, there are over 19,000 comics and books to download. Members can also access the driving theory and Life in the UK tests, download newspapers, learn a new language, access over 500 interactive stories and activities for children, learn a new subject, get up to speed on computer software with online tutorials, and search through hundreds of encyclopaedias.
Find out more about Carmarthenshire libraries here. Start your family history search with a 14 day free trial on Ancestry UK.
