An aid for the many researchers who come to the Library of Congress's (LC) Reading Room to research family roots in England, Ireland, Scotland, or Wales. LC's collection of local history and genealogical material for the British Isles and Ireland is so large that it ranks second only LC's holdings of material relating to the U.S. In fact, British local historical societies have pursued active publishing programs since the 1700s and have produced hundreds of parish registers and other local records; LC holds many of these publications. Also useful for those researching English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh genealogy in other large libraries.

The proceedings of the conference held at UCC in July 1999, is divided into two sections and published to coincide with the next biannual conference to be held in Wales this summer.