Free Resources for Geneaology in the Library

In most public libraries (and certainly all the ones I’ve ever been in), resources for patrons to conduct family history and genealogy research are present, and sometimes form quite a large part of a library’s collection.

Many counties, provinces, states and countries have made vast amounts of data available for research. However, in many of these instances, the content is only available for a price – a fairly steep one at that. Some sources may let you see materials online without charge, but ordering a copy is far from free.

Any librarian who has aided someone in genealogical research has encountered the ‘usual suspects’: namely various Ancestry websites, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints FamilySearch.org. Ancestry is fairly expensive, even for their stripped-down ‘Library Edition’ (available through annual subscription only), and the information available at FamilySearch.org is not all that coherent. For those beginning research in Alberta, or Canada in general, the FamilySearch.org collections are largely limited to census data, with some province-specific sources (though none from Alberta!).

So where to next?

While there are many, many great not-for-free sites out there with mountains of good information, the internet (as it so often is in many areas) is rife with free family history research content; you just have to know where to look. A word of warning: the information available for free is of varying quality and reliability, but a keen eye can help to sort the good from the bad.

Cyndi’s List

If you’ve done much work in this area, there’s every chance that you’ve encountered Cyndi’s List. At the ripe age of 15 years, Cyndi’s List is a veritable internet veteran, and nearly a one-stop-shop for free online genealogical resources. When I don’t want to pay, this is always my first stop. Note: not everything is free. A large number of the links are to Ancestry.com, in particular those with census data, and require payment to actually see anything.

The website has been remade in the not-too-distant past, and the navigation is fairly straightforward. Everything is sorted into categories. Country, record type (military, census, adoption record, etc.), societies and groups, and the list goes on… and on, and on.

If, for example, you go to Canada > Provinces > Alberta > Birth, Marriage, Death, you’ll see links to the Alberta Family Histories Society, Ancestry.com, Calgary Newspaper Announcements and a link to Vital Statistics sources from Service Alberta.

The sheer volume of resources available through Cyndi’s List makes any detailed discussion here impossible. I would encourage you to head there and give it a try yourself.

Rootsweb

Though owned by Ancestry, rootsweb is an entirely free service. The best use I’ve found is to search for names, and investigate the family trees people have posted. Oftentimes they are posted with no source information, but the site can prove useful for getting suggestions for names (and spellings) that can lead to detailed research from a more concrete source. Some people will have linked (or cited) sources with their family trees. If you encounter one of these, be sure to note the information for future use. It may prove quite valuable.

Find a Grave Canada

Find a Grave is, to be blunt, a fantastic website. Thousands of individuals have dedicated their time to locating, photographing and detailing the graves in cemeteries across the country. As well, the US database is even larger. On top of this, members can submit individual graves, also often with photos. I have personally found graves of a number of relatives while conducting research. The site can help to nail down dates and places, and adding a photograph to the family research scrapbook is always welcome. Best of all, it’s all free!

This has been only a tiny sample of what’s available out there, and I’d encourage you to do some digging around on your own. There’s really no telling what you’ll find for a patron, or what you might find out about your own past.

If you have any experiences you wish to share, feel free to comment!

CNIB's Summer Reading Program

I have a niece who was born with albinism. As such she sports beautiful snow white hair and violet eyes, but is also legally blind. Though she always did well in school, I know she often felt 'different' and tried her hardest to be just like the other kids. As such, providing opportunities that are accessible to all children is very near and dear to my heart.

The CNIB Library has teamed up with the TD Summer Reading Club to support accessible programs in public libraries. Kids under the age of 16 who are print impaired in your community can join the club through the CNIB Library to:

• Read books in audio and braille
• Take part in accessible activities by web, email or phone
• Join the CNIB team challenge and win prizes

The CNIB also offers a lot of great resources for providing your own accessible programming for kids in your community. You can download their Guide to Accessible Books at : http://www.cnib.ca/en/services/library/libraries-schools/visunet/Documents/SRC%202011%20Guide%20to%20Books.doc

Their Guide to Accessible Activities is available at: http://www.cnib.ca/en/services/library/libraries-schools/visunet/Documents/SRC%202011%20Guide%20to%20Activities.doc

You can also check out page 28 of your TD SRC Staff Manual for tips on including kids with print disabilities in your programming: http://www.td-club-td.ca/2011/009003-11-1000-e.html

Providing accessible programming at your library can be as easy as describing what you are doing and including activities that don't require vision.

For more information on the CNIB TD Summer Reading Club go to http://www.cnib.ca/en/services/library/kids/summer-reading/

Google+ and What it (Might) Mean for Libraries

What is Google+?

On June 28, Google launched Google+, their kick at the social media can and challenge to Facebook’s dominance. Some of you may have noticed the black bar that at the top of the Google search page, which effectively serves as the gateway to Google+. While there was no official announcement of this product and admission is currently by invitation only, the introduction of this tool may serve to shake up the social media landscape.

What does it do?

As far as can tell/have read, Google+ functions and looks quite a bit like Facebook, with some unique features that Google is hoping will catapult its product into the wider world. Here are some of the more popular features that the online world is buzzing about:

• Circles: "Circles" are Google’s answer to Facebook’s somewhat awkward arrangement of “Friends.” Instead of lumping everyone you’ve connected with into one group, you can place people into affiliations that more accurately reflect your life – acquaintances, co-workers, family, etc. While this feature already exists in Facebook, Google+ is suppose to make these groupings easier and allow you to more selectively distribute information to contacts.

• Hangouts: Using Hangouts, you can host a group video chat with people your connected to on Google+. You can hold a chat with up to 10 people and the picture focuses in on whoever is speaking so no one ends up controlling the conversation/camera. This feature is, however, assumes that everyone who you wish to speak will be on a high-speed connection.

• Sparks – Sort of like Facebook’s “Like,” “Join,” and listing of your interests combined, Google+ lets you search for items on the web that you have an interest in. These items can be anything – blog post, videos, books. When you find an item you like, you simply link it to your profile and connect yourself with whatever interests you.

There are other aspects of this new product, but a simple search of articles (through Google-controlled results of course) will give you articles and videos that detail this release in full. These are merely some of the top features being lauded.

How will it effect libraries?

Since Google+ is in its infancy, it is really hard to say right now. Overall response to it has been lukewarm, but that might just be because Google is venturing into a sector that Facebook controls. The catch will be in convincing Facebook users that they actually have something to gain by moving over to Google+ and, as far as I can tell, this will only happen when mass migration begins. With libraries that have Facebook pages, it will be time to move to a new platform when it’s all your patrons can talk about, if it comes to that. Since most organizations were not quick to jump on Facebook, it will be fine to gauge public interest and move later in the game.

The other reason that libraries should be aware of this development is because of the new data source this product gives Google. Already there is a lot of anxiety around how much information Google creates and controls in general, such as Google Books, search results, and page rank. Patrick Sweeney details some of these concerns in his blog post “Could Google+ Ruin Your Online Personal Brand?”

More or less though, it is probably just good for libraries to know that Google+ is out there. When a company with this much clout in the information world rolls out a product that they have high hopes for, it is good to be alert. Only time will tell though if it will really matter.

Bookmarking for Librarians

No, I don't mean the ubiquitous bookmarks that are all over the circulation desk, the computers, under the circulation desk, etc.  I'm talking about social bookmarking - marking interesting websites, articles, etc. so that you can organize them, share them and go back to them later.


Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata. Instead of storing bookmarks or favorites on your home or work computer, social bookmarking tools enable you to store them on the web, organize them in a variety of ways, add "tags" or keywords to them, annotate them, and access them from any computer. In addition, you can share the bookmarks with others and you can see what others have bookmarked. 


So, who should consider social bookmarking?  Basically, anyone who has a long and unwieldy "favourites" list should think about employing social bookmarking tools.  There are a number of them available to help make your list of favourites accessible from any computer, more organized and easier to use. 


Here are just a couple of the more popular ones:


Delicious (www.delicious.com)
Delicious lets you save all of your bookmarks online, share them with other people and see what others have bookmarked.  Delicious also lets you use tags to sort your bookmarks into categories (for example, "vegetarian" or "funny").  


Diigo (www.diigo.com)
Diigo is one of the most popular social bookmarking, web annotation and collaborative research tools available online.  Diigo lets you bookmark websites, highlight specific content, use sticky notes, tag your bookmarks and more.  Diigo is my bookmarking tool of choice because it's so easy to use - just install the bookmarklet (called Diigolet) on your browser and bookmark away!  


Social bookmarking can not only keep your own web browsing organized, but it's a great way to share information with your patrons as well.  Libraries can use social bookmarking tools to make lists of materials through the use of tags.  For example, someone interested in "mysteries" or "cooking" could more easily locate a website that was of interest to them by searching for items with a "mystery" tag. 


With the Bibliocommons "list" feature, you can use this same concept.  Bibliocommons allows you to make a list on a specific subject that includes both items from the catalogue and websites.  You can also tag items in the list to enable users to search more specifically for what they're looking for.

So, whether you're looking for a way to organize your favourite sites or would like to help your patrons find quality information online, you need look no further than social bookmarking.  If you already use social bookmarking yourself or for your library, tell us about it!