Up to the late 1980s it was busy during the tourist season and relatively quiet at other times. The service in the PSR was provided by three staff members who took search fees, gave basic guidance on using the indexes and, for an additional fee, provided photocopies of the records. Particular searches allow access to the indexes covering a five year period.
General searches entitle users to six consecutive hours of access to the indexes.
A staff member hands out the index volumes for a particular search. The main advantage of the general search is that users may help themselves to the volumes from the shelves. This saves them from queuing for assistance and frees the staff members to provide photocopies. It allows users to determine the relevance of a particular record and to continue their search. It relieves the GRO of the obligation of providing time consuming hand-written certificates for such researchers.