When to ask for help from someone in the UK, whom to ask, how to make the requests and how to pay for costs due are practical problems which come up repeatedly. Things are getting easier, but the problems are not going away. 'When to ask' is the hardest to quantify and explain. Everyone has questions, but at the other end, no one likes to be bothered when they know there are obvious or accessible answers. You can interpret this to mean, be sure you cannot find the answer yourself, and ask a straightforward, intelligent question.

Consider what is puzzling you. If it is about access, or the contents of certain records, answers may be readily available in methodology books, LDS Resource Guides, from others you know with similar interests, and perhaps from Ancestry which has incorporated many articles on British research into its online library.

As I am regularly asked about finding other articles I have written, let me digress for a moment and explain how to do this. There is no need to log on as a subscriber, simply go to the site, www.ancestry.com, as any casual visitor would. At the main page, from the tabs, select LEARN. The words 'browse and search' are there in the text, highlighted, and hot-linked to a page which offers ways to explore the resources. A search box is in the lower left of the screen. Type my name in that box, 'Sherry Irvine.' The response is forty-nine listings spread over five pages. Some of these can be ignored, but all my ADN articles do appear among the first thirty. Click on any title and you are taken directly to the full text.

Getting back to the matter of locating information to help you find your own answers and ask better questions. There are many Resource Guides to English, Scottish, and Irish Research at: http://www.familysearch.org. Select the SEARCH tab at the top, then Research Helps, and then the first letter of the country. Also check out GENUKI: http://www.genuki.org.uk/. Click on Contents and Search in the upper right corner, and then on the words GENUKI Search Engine. It explores all GENUKI pages, and several other important sites, such as the Public Record Office (PRO).

Now, where to direct these questions? To the PRO or the county archives, the town library, or somewhere else? Perhaps you should be asking the local family history society. Scan methodology books for information about locating records. Consider what you need, clues come from the record. What entity created it--a business, a church, a court, a government department? And at what level--a national corporation like a railway, a local parish or a large diocese, a criminal court, the army or navy? Railway records, customs records, assize courts and military records are all national, and at the Public Record Office. The majority of Church of England dioceses correspond with a county and are in county record offices. Collections in local libraries relate to the town or parish, and may be original records, or copies of records in the country record office. There certainly is overlap.

Not every record office, agency, and library has a Web site with catalog and online guides, but the vast majority have an e-mail address. There are some easy ways to search for addresses, postal and e-mail. On the Internet, the key sites are:

ARCHON (Archives Online) http://www.hmc.gov.uk Maintained by the Historic Manuscripts Commission, this is a directory of archives in the UK and Ireland, which can be searched for a specific repository, for record offices in a named town, or in a county. Names of pre-1974 counties, such as Huntingdonshire, do appear in the drop-down list and you are directed to the present-day location. You can also browse by major political divisions, such as England and Wales and the Isle of Man, or by using your mouse to select a region on the interactive map.

Familia, http://www.earl.org.uk/familia/ This is a directory of family history resources held in public libraries in the UK and Ireland. It is maintained by EARL, the Consortium for Public Library Networking. Searching by county produces a contents guide (headings of different record types) followed by the addresses of libraries, and then the record type categories with summaries of the holdings for each, in each library.

In print, up-to-date information, including research businesses, is found in periodicals (e.g. the British Family Tree Magazine, http://www.family-tree.co.uk and in the Genealogical Services Directory, http://www.genealogical.co.uk

The PRO (http://www.pro.gov.uk) and the Federation of Family History Societies (http://www.ffhs.org.uk) also publish guides to record offices. Check out their Web sites for lists of publications.

Money is less of a problem than in the past but still presents difficulties. I am not talking about whether or not you have enough in petty cash for genealogical expenses, but how you can send payments to the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), which uses the pound sterling. Now that you know how to find e-mail and postal addresses you will be able to ask about payment method at the beginning.

Good old-fashioned snail mail still works, and increasingly, e-mail enquiries are accepted. When writing a real letter, enclose an air mail envelope with your return address on it, but do NOT apply stamps unless they are British. If you can get them, sending mint stamps is the less expensive option. A local stamp dealer, a genealogical society, or a friend who visits (or resides in) the UK are all possible sources. The other way to cover return postage is an International Reply Coupon, available from post offices in the USA and Canada.

Odds are getting more favorable that what you require can be obtained and paid for by credit card. For example, it is possible to obtain English birth certificates with the assistance of an agent who places the order at the Family Records Centre in London, OR from the local registrar in the area where the birth took place, OR from the certificate service of the General Register Office at Southport, near Liverpool (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/registration/default.asp). The General Register Office accepts credit card orders; some research businesses do; local registrars generally require a money order or check in pounds drawn on a British bank.

It has always been a puzzle to me that foreign currency is difficult to obtain in the USA. In Canada it is possible to purchase money orders in pounds and many other currencies at banks and credit unions. A good rundown of how to obtain pound sterling money orders is in Dick Eastman's article in the 11 April 2001 newsletter (http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eastman/3718.asp) issue of his newsletter. None of the options is cheap. For inexpensive items the charges will seem ridiculous--you will instinctively know what is a reasonable ratio for you.

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry for thirty years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services (http://www.interlinkbookshop.com) in 1988; she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is vice president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. You can e- mail Sherry with suggestions for future British genealogy articles at sherryirvine55@myfamily.com. She will not be able to send personal replies, but will feature some questions in upcoming issues of the Ancestry Daily News. Sherry also regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research. Sherry is also the author of:

Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
http://shops.ancestry.com/product.asp?productid=1046

Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
http://shops.ancestry.com/product.asp?productid=1045

Both of these books are currently ON SALE for only $15.95 for a limited time in The Shops @ Ancestry.com.