Helping Genealogists in Your Library

1. Helping Genealogists in Your Library Jean L. Cooper University of Virginia Library

2. Defining your level of service

3. Should Your Library Serve Genealogists? ... And at what level?

4. Levels of Service • Free online resources • Collect local genealogical materials • Become a center of genealogical resources in your area • Provide advanced services, such as research guides or research assistance

5. Training library staff to help genealogists

6. Library Skills • Using the online catalog • Using the Internet and search engines • Customer service skills • Research skills

7. Genealogy Skills • Basic training in genealogy • Principles of genealogy • Typical charts & forms • Terminology • Using the U.S. Census

8. Knowledge of Specialized Resources • Library of Virginia • Other libraries in Virginia • Google books • Cyndi’s List and other online indexes • Heritage Quest Online & Family Search

9. Genealogy Reference Interview Process

10. Determine patron’s skill level

11. Specific problems by skill level • Beginning genealogist • How to do genealogy • Beginning researcher • How to use the library • How to use the technology • How to do research

12. Experienced genealogist/researcher • May need special resources that the library does not have

13. Determine patron’s skill level • Pin down location and time period of interest

15. Determine patron’s skill level • Pin down location and time period of interest • Find sources of information

16. What are genealogists looking for? Recorded evidence of the existence of a person (related to them or not), and facts about the person and that person’s relationship(s) with others.

17. Primary Sources • U.S. Census • Newspapers • Vital records (Birth, marriage, divorce, death records) • Court records • Estate records • Land records and maps • Medical records • Military records

18. Secondary Sources • Manuals and handbooks • Guides • Directories and Indexes • Encyclopedias • Histories • Library Catalogs

19. Sources of Information

20. U. S. Census • 1790-1840, 1850-1930 • 1850 & 1860 Slave Census • 1890 Veterans Schedules • 1850-1880 Mortality Schedules

24. 1880 U.S. Census • 1881 UK and Canadian Censuses • U.S. Social Security Death Index (SSDI) • International Genealogical Index (IGI) • Historical Books & Record Search Pilot

25. South Carolina Death Certificates

26. Immigration • Castle Garden; America’s First Immigration Center (1820-1892) www.castlegarden.org • Ellis Island/Port of New York Records (1892-1924) www.ellisisland.org/default.asp

27. Land Records • County and City Courthouses www.albemarle.org • General Land Office Records (BLM) www.glorecords.blm.gov

28. Military Records • Library of Virginia – what we have www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/mil/index.htm

29. War of the Rebellion - Online moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/browse.monographs/waro.html

30. National Park Service Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System www.itd.nps.gov/cwss

31. Where can I find additional genealogical materials? • Library of Virginia www.lva.virginia.gov • Virginia Memory (full text) www.virginiamemory.com

32. Payroll from Lord Dunmore’s Expedition, 1774

33. Confederate Disability Applications

34. Local Historical Societies www.lva.virginia.gov/ public/historical.asp • Public Libraries www.lva.virginia.gov/ public/libraries.asp

35. University of Virginia Library www.lib.virginia.edu/genealogy • Libraries on the Web lists.webjunction.org/libwebAcademic_VA.html

36. Virginia Heritage www.lib.virginia.edu/small/vhp

37. Library of Congress www.loc.gov Library of Congress Digital Collections (full text) www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html

38. Sketch of the road from Charlottesville to Afton, and from Browns Cove to Afton, Albemarle County, Virginia. Hotchkiss, Jedidiah. 186-?

39. National Archives www.archives.gov/genealogy • Archival Research Catalog www.archives.gov/research/arc

40. Summary • Define your level of services • Analyze reference services for genealogists • Train library staff to help genealogists • Locate resources