County research venues
Also see associated page National Research Venues
Each County Record Office (CRO) website is listed on the relevant county page in The British Isles section. Please refer to this for specific directions and opening times.
Visiting a Records Office or Research Venue
Most research venues require you to have a CARN card (or reader ticket).
CARN is an abbreviation for County Archive Research Network.
To obtain a ticket, bring a proof of your identity including name, current address and signature (e.g. driving licence or household utility bill and cheque guarantee card) so staff can issue you with your free reader’s ticket.
Remember that UK passports alone are not sufficient as they do not provide proof of address. All ticket holders are required to keep to the searchroom rules at all times. These rules are to make your stay enjoyable and to ensure that the historic material in the Record Office survives for future generations. The record office reserves the right to suspend or refuse to issue a reader’s ticket. A full list of searchroom rules is displayed in each record office in reception, and in the searchroom.
Once you have a CARN card (or reader ticket as they are sometimes called) they are valid at most research venues. Different venues have different systems - some collect your card and return it to you when you leave the centre, others require you to keep it about your person whilst in the centre. Bear in mind that all people using the Research Centre must have a card. Some venues will allow people to sit in reception and wait for you, but not all.
Take notes with you
Take notes with you on paper rather than in a book or pad. Some venues strictly enforce the loose sheets only rule and will not allow folders or even spiral bound pads.
It is a good idea to make some brief notes as to what you wish to research in biro as a heading for a few sheets. Once inside the Record Office, many will only allow the use of pencils so doing this will keep the information that you started with obvious to you.
Take some spare sheets but don't go over the top - many venues will search your belongings on the way in and the way out, so don't embarrass yourself by trying to take in things that are not allowed.
If you wish to use a camera you should ask. Some places allow the use of photography, others do not. Some venues allow photographs of some documents but not others. Most do not allow the use of a flash, so evaluate the use of the camera without flash before you take it.
Mobile phones may need to be switched off, or perhaps silenced. If you should need to use your phone whilst in the Records Office, please respect the needs of others and do so in the cafe or reception area, not in the search rooms.
Be comfortable
Some CROs have air conditioning, essential for preservation of documents, so wear layers and comfortable shoes and clothing that is easy to reach, stretch and sit in.
Wash your hands before you enter the search rooms if you can, and again if hands get sweaty - sweaty hands make for dirty documents! Pay a visit to the toilet before you enter the search room, since you may be halfway through looking at a vital fiche that the staff will require you to put away before leaving the room - very irritating!
Look around at the other people that are searching as well. Some will appear to know exactly what they are doing, and more than happy to help you wind a spool onto a fiche reeler. Some people will look as though they own the chair/the book/the entire Records Office (woe betide you...!) But remember - they were all first timers once upon a time too.
