Choose the research purpose honestly
TG4's June 2026 launch description distinguishes Public, Educational and Production researchers, with visibility depending on access level. It describes registration, simple and advanced searches, and fields including title, description, catalogue item and place name.
Suppose a community researcher wants to study how one Gaeltacht village appeared on television over time. Define the question before registering or searching: which place, which period and which programme forms matter? A list of village references is a discovery result, while a study of changing representation requires watching and comparing the identified material.
Create separate place and title searches
Use the place-name field for the locality, then try relevant programme titles or descriptions as separate searches. Preserve Irish spellings and any known historical forms. If a nearby town shares the name, retain the county or other identifying context in the research note.
The publisher describes workspaces that save search lists, content lists and clips. Use those distinctions deliberately if you access the service: a search list preserves how candidates were found, a content list records selected programmes and a clip identifies a passage within material. Do not turn every result into a confirmed reference to the village before checking its description and context.
Keep digitisation and coverage limits visible
TG4 describes ongoing digitisation and continuing additions to the archive. A missing result therefore does not establish that an event was never televised or that every programme from the period is searchable. Record the search date and any unresolved gaps.
For a reusable research handover, preserve query fields, place-name variants, candidate item identifiers and the purpose of each selection. Mark which programmes have actually been viewed and which remain candidates. Check the service's current terms for any proposed extract or publication.
For the village study, finish with a dated candidate list grouped by programme and year. Keep place-name variants beside the queries that used them. If a programme mentions a neighbouring area, mark it related rather than automatically including it. The resulting workspace can support comparison without turning an unreviewed place-name hit into confirmed coverage of the village.
Questions about this guide
Does Public access imply the same visibility as Production access?
TG4 says visibility depends on the research access level selected according to intended use.
Why save a search list separately from a content list?
The search list preserves discovery scope; the content list identifies the programmes selected for the project.