Records experts in Oxfordshire are working to overcome legal problems so archives remain open to those interested in family history.

New data protection law means personal information about living individuals must not be made available to outsiders without their permission.

The law was designed to cut down on direct marketing and the selling of lists of names and addresses by businesses.

But archives all over the country have an immense amount of 20th century documents that may hold personal information, presenting a potentially tricky legal situation for archivists and researchers.

The county council has funded a specialist professional team to survey the holdings of the Record Office over the next two years and isolate any data that could prove problematic.

All records that are cleared will be protected under Freedom of Information Laws.

County archivist Carl Boardman said: "This will be a great relief to our users, particularly the masses of family historians who rely on getting access to our holdings."