I am open to anything that will work! Creating the db is not the problem for me. I have basic skills that area, and the information I am using is not complex. (Date|Name|Gender|Charge|Correctional facility|Sentence)

I would eventually like to tackle other ledgers on the Prison, but that can wait until I have the needed skills!

My conundrum lies in the transition to making the db a tool that can used without having to know special terms. Is there a book you can recommend, an article(s)?

But to start... I need an Access db with my information and then get a reporting service to translate the querys and analyze the info in the db.. that is correct? What reporting service/writer should I look at?

I see that you appreciate the importance of history, thank you so much for your help. If I can get this working, I think that it could be a wonderful asset to the archives, not only for these specific ledgers. You are doing the community a service!

~MJ