Continually keeping published editions up-to-date with on-going research and new findings is an impossible task. No sooner has a latest edition been released than a further trip to an archive yields new evidence to be incorporated into one entry or another which will only become available upon release of the subsequent update. None of that has ever sat well with me but being tied to working within familiar and manageable frameworks in regard to time I can realistically dedicate to research, updating and publishing as well as financially, I have simply done the best I could under all of those circumstances. The ideal but hitherto unachievable alternative has always been to move away from the restrictions imposed by individual volumes and to instead incorporate the entire work within a single database - and I am very pleased to now be able to report that, following discussions with Roland Tanner and Pam Ritchie at TannerRitchie Publishing, that database is now in the early stages of being pieced together and will be available in the not too distant future.
The benefits such a change of approach will bring will include:
- existing entries will be updated as and when new information comes to hand
- new entries will be included on an on-going basis
- access to all published entries in one single database
- the ability to search the entire database
- options to opt-in to receive notifications to keep up to date with changes as they occur
- scope to add new features to enhance the user experience including accessing digital copies of key documents cited as well as information relating to heraldry and historic buildings.
Details relating to subscription levels and pricing are still to be determined and will be released in due course.
PUBLISHED VOLUMES: these will continue to be offered for sale and new editions will be released annually.
Should you have questions or queries in relation to the above, please do contact me at gordon@redbookofscotland.co.uk
___________________________