Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
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Cataloguing

PRONI strongroom Privately deposited record Touching up of records

Cataloguing of public records and privately deposited archives

Staff demonstrating electronic cataloguing during Information Commissioner's visit to PRONI.
  • Once identified for permanent preservation, records acquired by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) are then catalogued by archivists.
  • Depending upon the nature of the archive itself, the catalogue may only comprise several lines of text (for example, a brief description of a single photograph), or it may extend over many hundreds of pages (for example, the detailed listing of a landed estate archive).
  • These catalogues accurately summarize the scope and content of PRONI’s archives. They are currently made accessible to the public in paper format, with around 450 volumes (estimated to total about 170,000 A4 pages).
  • PRONI’s paper catalogues generally reflect over eighty years of changing cataloguing practice and stylistic approach.

Electronic cataloguing (eCATNI project) and cataloguing best practice

  • PRONI’s electronic catalogue for Northern Ireland (eCATNI) project is charged with the task of successfully migrating the existing paper catalogue information into a searchable database and, ultimately, making available to the public Northern Ireland’s rich and unique archival heritage.  Internet technology will in essence be used to overcome the limitations of geography and promote accessibility.
  • One of the aims of eCATNI is to improve and standardise the quality of cataloguing in PRONI in compliance with the General International Standard Archival Description or ISAD (G) Opens a new browser window., a worldwide standard commonly recognised by professional archivists.