Finding Dead People - American Library Association · Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local...
Transcript of Finding Dead People - American Library Association · Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local...
Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local History Resources for the ILL Practitioner
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
uctions
Amber Case University of Washington - Seattle Lead Borrowing Technician University of Wisconsin – Madison
School of Library & Information Studies Instructor - Genealogy Library Services
Introductions
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
uctions
Cherié Finley Weible University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Head of Central Access Services Associate Professor
Introductions
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local History Resources for the ILL Practitioner
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Outline
● The rising popularity of genealogy ● Why are genealogy ILL request so difficult? ● Indexes to Print Genealogies ● Online Resources ● Genealogy Repositories ● Difficult Requests (and how we solved them…) ● Top Tips For Filling Your Genealogy Requests ● Q & A
Outline
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Growing Popularity “Genealogy is hot. The same hobby that once was the preferred pastime of shutins, spinsters and confirmed bachelors has become widely popular...There's a broad, mainstream interest in family history” – ABC News
“Visitors to online genealogy sites are mostly white women, 55 and older, who browse the Internet from home...It’s a demographic projected to grow 36 percent by 2020, three times as fast as any other group.” – Bloomberg Businessweek
Rising Popularity
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Genealogy in Popular Media
Popular TV Shows
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Why are genealogy requests so difficult?
Unshelved. December 2, 2002
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Why are genealogy requests difficult? ● Material not widely published or collected
○ May only be held by small historical/genealogical societies
● Non-circulating due to age or rarity ● Difficult citations
○ Obituaries (top tips later!) ○ Newspaper articles ○ Biographical sketches in books
Why so difficult?
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Indexes to Print Genealogies
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MEYERINK, K. L. (1998). Printed sources: a guide to published genealogical records. Salt Lake City, Ancestry.
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
American Genealogical Biographical Index
• Every name index to 800 printed genealogies and other compiled sources housed at the Godfrey Memorial Library
• Over 5.5 million entries • Found in print (200+ volumes)
and electronically on HathiTrust (select volumes), Ancestry Library Edition, and WorldVitalRecords
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Genealogical Index of the Newberry Library
• Surname index to 3,000 volumes including genealogies, local histories, and periodicals published prior to 1917
• Digital version available on HathiTrust
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Online Resource Periodical Source Index - PERSI
● Index created by Allen County Public Library of genealogy and local history articles published in U.S. and Canada back to 1800
● 2.3 million records from genealogy and local history periodicals
● Available in Allen County Public Library OR through HeritageQuest.
● Coming Soon? - FindMyPast.com working with ACPL to link index to full text of article. FindMyPast is a subscription site but does have a Pay-Per-View model.
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) ● Operated by the Library of Congress ● Mission: “catalog describing archival and
manuscript collections held by eligible repositories located throughout the United States and its territories”
● Project began in 1959 ● ‘Over 114,000 collections in nearly 1,800
repositories cataloged over the course of the program.’
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
● Records from 1959-1985 available in print volumes; 1986-present available on OCLC WorldCat
● Index to Personal Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1984
● Index to Subjects and Corporate Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1984
Print Indexes
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Online Sources
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Online Resource Google Books
● 30+ million volumes ● Full View, Limited Preview, Snippet, No View ● Great for county histories, legal proceedings, state
and federal government publications, and out of copyright periodicals.
● ILLiad Add-On
Online Sources
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Full View
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Snippet View
Romelia
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Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
● Launched in April 2013 ● Mission: “to establish a national network out of the
over forty state/regional digital libraries and myriad large digital libraries in the US...into a single access point for users”
Online Sources
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
DPLA Partners
Online Sources
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©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Family History Books ● 80,000 genealogy and family history publications
Online Sources
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
HeritageQuest
Paid Subscription through Proquest 7 million digitized page images from over 28,000
family histories, local histories, and other books University of California – San Diego loaded 22,176
records into OCLC from items found in HeritageQuest. OCLC symbol – HQSTO
Online Sources
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Online Sources
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Chronicling America – Newspaper Directory
● Includes ‘library catalog records created by state institutions during the NEH-sponsored United States Newspaper Program’
● Covers 1690-present ● 140,000 bibliographic title
entries and 900,000 separate library holdings records. Records are updated annually.
Online Sources
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©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Online Sources
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Chronicling America - Digital Newspapers
Online Sources
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Basic Search
Online Sources
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Advanced Search
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Browse for Titles
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Online Resource Wikipedia: List of Digital Newspaper
Online Sources
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Genealogy Repositories
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
● Allen County Public Library ● Mid-Continent Public Library ● National Genealogical Society’s Collection ● Family History Library ● Local collections
○ Use the geographic location of the request to identify local libraries, archives, and genealogical societies
○ Champaign County Historical Archives is housed within the Urbana Free Library
Genealogy Repositories
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
● 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 microfilm/microfiche representing ● 55,000 volumes of compiled genealogies ● 48,000 city directories ● 6,200 current periodical subscriptions
● Services offered include photocopies from sources including periodicals, family histories and direct records sources such as the military pension indexes:
● Does not use OCLC for genealogical requests; the OCLC symbol is for Public Library collection
Genealogy Repositories
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Mid-Continent Public Library ● Midwest Genealogy Center (OCLC: CMI) ● Genealogy from the Heartland collection offers
over 17,000 genealogy and local history books available through ILL to researchers nationwide FREE OF CHARGE
Genealogy Repositories
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
NGS Library Collection ● National Genealogical Society Book
Loan Collection (OCLC: ZAE) ● Housed at St. Louis County Library (SLCL) ● More than 20,000 circulating volumes ● All items may be checked out or
borrowed through ILL ● Policy restricts two books loaned at a time
to a patron. ● Will copy up to 30 pages from one item
Genealogy Repositories
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Family History Library ● Does not use traditional ILL; still a valuable resource ● ‘The collection includes over 2.4 million rolls of
microfilmed genealogical records; 727,000 microfiche; 356,000 books, serials, and other formats; over 4,500 periodicals and 3,725 electronic resources.’
● Microfilm loans to Family History Centers around the world for a nominal fee.
● Free document delivery service for individuals
Genealogy Repositories
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Difficult Requests And how we solved them….
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Book Title: History of King County Washington.
Volume 1. Author: Clarence B. Bagley Pub. Date: 1929 Notes: Most interested in information on Robbins
family including a photo of Robbins family homestead that is supposedly featured in this book.
Difficult Request 1
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
First Step
● Submitted request to several libraries to try to borrow book
● Unfilled as non-circulating
Difficult Request 1
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Next Step
● Submitted new request for photocopy of index. ● No entries for Robbins
Difficult Request 1
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Additional Formats
● Is it available in other formats? ● Print OCLC record:
Difficult Request 1
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Google Books
Difficult Request 1
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New Photocopy Request
● Submitted a request for title page and pages 288, 709, and 734.
Difficult Request 1
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• Richard Smith • Death date unknown; suspected 1900-1910 Livingston Co., IL • Patron searched source
Find-A-Grave • Located date 17 May 1902 • ILL staff used newspaper Index at ALPL (Springfield, IL) • Located Fairbury Blade
nearest community
Difficult Request 2
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
• Obituary for Robinson Smith • Died in California between 1910 and 1920 • Last known residence Tulare County in 1910 • Search engine: Tulare County Obituary Index
• Leads to CA Genweb and Tulare County Obituaary Index
• Date of obit 17 Aug 1910 in Tulare Advance Register • Librarian did additional work to provide cemetery
where he was buried and also provided spouse’s name and death date
Difficult Request 3
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Difficult Request 3
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D • Obituary for Alexander Smith • Died in Springhill Township, Fayette Co.,
Pennsylvania between 1910 and 1920 • Patron asked to narrow down date
• Located possible cemetery listing for December 1910 • WorldCat
• Keyword search Fayette and Pennsylvania and limit to serial • 147 results • Chose Daily News Standard and The Morning Herald both
published in Uniontown, PA; county seat, nearest community
Difficult Request 4
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Top Tips for Filling Your Requests
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
● Be sure the date of death is known and correct. ● Check for local obituaries indexes. ● Scan entire newspaper. ● Be creative with names.
● Look for variants of the name. ● Look for married woman under Mrs. [husband’s
name]. ● Check newspapers for both last known
residence and home town. ● Don’t forget to check ethnic or religious
newspapers.
Tips for Obituaries
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
● Ask for a loan of the newspaper film if possible; many libraries are not staffed to spend time locating obituaries.
● Although loans usually cost the patron more it allows the chance to find additional information such as: ○ notice of illness before death ○ visits from family before death ○ time to find obituary that can be printed up to a month or
more afterward in a newspaper ○ cards of thanks from family ○ notice of filing of probate or estate
Tips for Obituaries
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Top Tips for Filling Requests ● Choose who you send request to strategically
○ What type of library? ○ How does the material fit into the collection?
● Think outside OCLC. ● Check for alternate format. ● Check for locally created indexes. ● If material is non-circulating
○ Check if photocopy if possibility ○ If too long to copy, ask for copy of index
● If needed, go back to the patron for more information!
Top Tips
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
It’s okay to cancel! ● "Interlibrary loan is the process by which a library
requests material from, or supplies material to, another library.” - ALA
● If user is not looking for a specific source, evaluate if you have the staffing, time, and other resources to do beyond this. It is OKAY to cancel!
● Create a cancellation email template that helps point these patrons to reference librarians and/or other local genealogical research help.
One More Tip
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Board of Certification of Genealogists - http://www.bcgcertification.org/
National Institute on Genealogical Research http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~natgenin/
National Institute for Genealogical Studies http://genealogicalstudies.com/
Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research http://www4.samford.edu/schools/ighr/
Boston University – Genealogical Research Programs http://professional.bu.edu/programs/genealogy/
University of Wisconsin – Genealogy Library Services (online taught by Amber Case) http://www.slis.wisc.edu/Genealogy.htm
Check your local genealogical and historical society – many offer a wealth of wonderful classes on genealogical research!
Want to learn more about genealogy and family history?
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013
Thanks!
Questions? Additional resources or tips?
Amber Case - [email protected] Cherié Weible - [email protected]
©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013