One of my monthly goals earlier this year was to explore the local library to see what it had to offer that might be helpful in my genealogy research. My first step was exploring the library's website and online catalog, which I talked about in Part 1. With all the craziness this year, I never actually made it to the library, despite the fact I drive by it at least once a week.
Today, I finally made it to the library. I had about half an hour to kill between running errands and picking my daughter up so I decided to stop in at the library. After doing a little exploring, I'm definitely going to have to go back, especially since I didn't have my library card or any money for copies with me today.
Our library is set up kind of weird with sections scattered around the library instead of one single location and books categorized differently than the average person (or at least me) would expect. Both of the library catalog computers were taken so I decided to just start walking through the non-fiction sections to see if anything jumped out at me.
The first thing I came across was The Genealogist's Virtual Library: Full-text Books on the World Wide Web by Thomas Jay Kemp. It's a wonder I found the book since it was shelved with books on building websites rather than genealogy, but building websites and online databases is a new interest of mine so I stopped to look at those books and stumbled across Kemp's book.
As the title implies, the book lists locations of full text genealogy books that can be found online. The first part of the book has the books arranged by surnames. I checked a few of my surnames, but didn't have any success in finding any books that seemed like they would be helpful in my research. The second part of the book has the books arranged by location. I did find a few titles of interest and jotted down the URLs so I can check them out when I get a chance. Since most of the URLs are for genweb, Library of Congress and university websites, I'm assuming these are viewable for free.
I browsed through the remainder of that segment of non-fiction without finding any other books of interest. I wandered around for a minute before finding another segment of non-fiction, this one apparently devoted to maps. I didn't spend much time here, but did notice that they have both current and historical maps, including a large book for Europe. I definitely want to take a closer look at the European map because my husband's paternal line comes from what was once the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was broken up following World War I and has changed boundaries several times since then.
After looking at the maps, one of the library catalog computers was free so I stopped to do a subject search for genealogy. Most of the books were divided between the NC Room and a segment of non-fiction that I still hadn't found yet. So I set off wandering again to see if I could locate them.
I finally found the books I had discovered in the library catalog for the non-fiction section. I was actually surprised at how many books on genealogy they had, although I did note that they still don't have either of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained books.
A little more wandering and I found the NC Room. I nearly walked by it because it's an actual room with a door and the sign is very discreet. At first I thought it was another office, but on closer look, I realized what it was and stepped inside.
The NC Room alone is worth another trip when I have more time to spend. There are computers set up for genealogy use only. Unlike the ones in the front part of the library for the public to use, which were all being used with people waiting for one to free up, all the computers were free. One entire segment of shelves was devoted to bound genealogy periodicals.
I found several books listing rosters, not only of NC troops, but Southern troops in general. Another segment of shelving holds genealogies and family histories. Some were actually published books, while others were clearly hand-made. One of the authors was a gentleman I've corresponded with and taken photographs for via Find-A-Grave, which was a neat coincidence. The odds of one of these books having a connection to my family is slim since none of my ancestors came from this area (as far as I've found anyway), but it was still interesting to flip through them.
I didn't get a chance to check out the file cabinets or the microfiche before I ran out of time so they'll have to wait until I get a chance to go back. Even though I didn't have as much time to explore as I would have liked (especially after figuring out where everything was and exactly what the library had), it was still a good experience. If I can fit it in my schedule, I'll go back for a more in-depth exploration.
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Showing posts with label library. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Local Library: Part 1
Since one of my February genealogy goals is to visit the local library to investigate their genealogy holdings, I thought I'd start out by exploring their website.
To start my search, I clicked on genealogy under the library collections tab. It led to the Haywood County Genealogy Society website. From clicking around their site, it appears that they have a resource center and also volunteer in the library's North Carolina Room. It isn't clear where the resource center is, but it is noted that it is open by request and non-members are requested to give a $3 donation.
According to the website, the resource center offers instructional videotapes, genealogical magazines and reference books. They also have a database of over 10,000 names culled from the 1850 and 1860 Haywood County censuses; a surname list built from member-submitted ancestor charts and copies of heritage books for here and the surrounding counties.
Going back to the library website, it appears that North Carolina room is where they keep their history and genealogy holdings. In addition to books, they have a large clipping file of newspaper articles that relate to North Carolina and Haywood County, as well as the local newspaper on microfilm back to 1900.
I did learn something new in that historic photographs of the county have been digitized are are part of Digital NC. Even though my family isn't originally from here, I couldn't resist browsing. The collection is primarily photographs, most of which have the pictured individual identified, but has some documents such as teacher certificates and a telegram.
Next, I went to the catalog to see what they had that could be helpful in my research. I have to admit I'm not too thrilled with the online catalog. While it did return 505 results for the keyword genealogy, I wasn't able to narrow it down to the items found only in the North Carolina room. Some of the results did list that they were in that collection, but there was no way of listing only those in the collection.
By clicking around a bit, I did learn that some of their genealogy books are found in the adult non-fiction section. I went back and tried my search of the genealogy keyword again and tried to narrow it down to only those in the adult non-fiction collection successfully. It appears that there are 122 titles that can be checked out, a nice find.
I did some browsing in this collection and found a few I will probably check out when I visit.
I was a bit disappointed to find that the library doesn't have a copy of either of Elizabeth Shown Mills' books on citing sources. In fact, the only source citation reference book I could find in the catalog was a book published in 1985. Given that the book is over 25 years old, I'm sure it's terribly out of date.
I think when I go to the library, I'll ask about filling out a purchase request. At one time, you could fill out an online purchase request through their website. However, when I tried it today, the link was broken. I'll also bring this to the librarian's attention so they can get it fixed.
To start my search, I clicked on genealogy under the library collections tab. It led to the Haywood County Genealogy Society website. From clicking around their site, it appears that they have a resource center and also volunteer in the library's North Carolina Room. It isn't clear where the resource center is, but it is noted that it is open by request and non-members are requested to give a $3 donation.
According to the website, the resource center offers instructional videotapes, genealogical magazines and reference books. They also have a database of over 10,000 names culled from the 1850 and 1860 Haywood County censuses; a surname list built from member-submitted ancestor charts and copies of heritage books for here and the surrounding counties.
Going back to the library website, it appears that North Carolina room is where they keep their history and genealogy holdings. In addition to books, they have a large clipping file of newspaper articles that relate to North Carolina and Haywood County, as well as the local newspaper on microfilm back to 1900.
I did learn something new in that historic photographs of the county have been digitized are are part of Digital NC. Even though my family isn't originally from here, I couldn't resist browsing. The collection is primarily photographs, most of which have the pictured individual identified, but has some documents such as teacher certificates and a telegram.
Next, I went to the catalog to see what they had that could be helpful in my research. I have to admit I'm not too thrilled with the online catalog. While it did return 505 results for the keyword genealogy, I wasn't able to narrow it down to the items found only in the North Carolina room. Some of the results did list that they were in that collection, but there was no way of listing only those in the collection.
By clicking around a bit, I did learn that some of their genealogy books are found in the adult non-fiction section. I went back and tried my search of the genealogy keyword again and tried to narrow it down to only those in the adult non-fiction collection successfully. It appears that there are 122 titles that can be checked out, a nice find.
I did some browsing in this collection and found a few I will probably check out when I visit.
- The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val D Greenwood
- International Vital Records Handbook by Thomas Jay Kemp
- A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestors: Special Strategies for Uncovering Hard-to-Find Information About Your Female Lineage by Sharion DeBartolo Carmack
- The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women's Genealogy by Christina Kassabian Schaeffer
- Professional Genealogy: A Sourcebook for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians by Elizabeth Shown Mills
I was a bit disappointed to find that the library doesn't have a copy of either of Elizabeth Shown Mills' books on citing sources. In fact, the only source citation reference book I could find in the catalog was a book published in 1985. Given that the book is over 25 years old, I'm sure it's terribly out of date.
I think when I go to the library, I'll ask about filling out a purchase request. At one time, you could fill out an online purchase request through their website. However, when I tried it today, the link was broken. I'll also bring this to the librarian's attention so they can get it fixed.
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