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Looking ahead
Digitisation of Vital Events (DoVE)
DoVE Update - July 2008
What is DoVE?
This is the project to scan, digitise and index birth, death and marriage records for England and Wales from 1837 to 2006 (Digitisation of Vital Events ). In 2005, Siemens IT Solutions and Services was awarded a three year contract to undertake this project. The contract with Siemens expires at the end of July this year and both Siemens and the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) have mutually decided not to extend it.
Which types of records have been digitised?
Siemens has currently delivered over 130 million records; this is approximately half the total number of General Register Office (GRO) records of birth, death and marriage. Siemens has undertaken to complete the birth records (from 1837 to 1934) and death (1837 to 1957) records. These are the record types most requested by members of the public applying to GRO for copies of certificates, often for the purposes of family history research.
What has happened to the records which have already been digitised?
The digitised records are now being used by GRO within a system known as EAGLE (Electronic Access to GRO Legacy Events ). The use of digitised records in handling certificate applications enables a quicker and more efficient system to be used for identifying and printing certificates. As well as a database and image store, the EAGLE system also allows for the recording and tracking of customer orders.
What happens next?
IPS and GRO are now undertaking a comprehensive review of the digitisation programme to define the next steps. IPS and GRO remain committed to delivering the project to digitise Births, Deaths and Marriage records.
When will the digitised Index be made available online?
The project to produce the digitised index and make it available to the public online is the MAGPIE project (MultiAccess to GRO Public Index of Events). This project is dependent on the completion of DoVE. Given the developments with DoVE, clearly the availability of the online index is likely to be delayed further.
Where can I get further information?
Updates will appear on the General Register Office website, as information becomes available.
Alternatively, you can contact GRO by emailing to: gro.communications@ons.gsi.gov.uk.
