Free access FindMyPast, & British Newspapers, this weekend (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, March 06, 2015, 15:56 (3561 days ago) @ Jefff

I should probably have mentioned that, as well as Ancestry, free access to the FindMyPast website may also be available via your local public library.
I've not tried this for several months as our Library was closed for refit, but here in West London the FMP access was a no-frills version much like Ancestry Library Edition, and definitely did not offer the BNA newspaper access. However I understand that's now changed and the BNA site may now be free to access at any public libraries that offer FMP.

These links confirm this is probably the case in some if not all Glos libraries.
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libraries/vrl
http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=61345&p=0

If planning to access the BNA from the library, methodical and thorough searching of the BNA can be very time-consuming, so I recommend initially searching their site from home for free, needs no subscription, carefully logging the likely hits. As with many search engines, "less" often gives "more", vague searches may take longer but will often give relevant hits that over-specific searches (eg full names) will miss. This should help ensure that the limited time available in the library is well-spent in downloading those newspaper pages that you've already found from home, memory flash sticks are perfect for this.
see http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=36879
Re the FMP site itself, I particularly recommend it for anyone researching their ancestor's military history. In my experience it offers more datasets than Ancestry, for example, if researching the British Army during Victoria's many Colonial Wars up to the early 1900s. I've found very interesting records for Foresters who were just too old to serve in WW1.

Hoping this helps, Jeff.