Sir, – Diarmaid Ferriter brings up an important point regarding the staffing levels in the National Archives (Opinion, October 24th).
Having recently spent a weekend in the National Archives doing some research, I was shocked at the lack of staff to facilitate a smooth environment for visitors, as well as the background work by archivists.
The information desks in the reading room are unmanned as often as not and the wait to dig out requested files can stretch into hours.
Trawling through the masses of records is difficult in that the digitisation process has not even reached records from the beginning of the 20th century. Think of the possibilities that historians would have if digitisation managed to reach up to 1916 at least!– Yours, etc,
JORDAN MARKEY,
Auditor,
An Cumann Staire,
NUI Galway.