[Genealib] RE: Declining use of collection

[Susan Scouras]

We are receiving more complicated questions by mail, e-mail and walk in
patrons, but they are complicated only because the person has not done
the "homework" before coming.  Not only do they have no idea how to
approach research, they do not realize that research is necessary and
once they do understand, are not willing to learn.  I am sorry to say
this includes college juniors and seniors who are history or political
science majors, or taking a class in historic preservation.  I have to
blame their professors for not teaching much about methodology, because
we have entire classes of students come in with the same assignment and
no clue how to approach it, even when given a list of resources to begin
with.  They have no concept of primary research and they want to be
handed "the book" on the subject.

We have had an increase in the number of people unwilling to do the
actual work of reading page after page of poor microfilm of damaged
record books that have never been transcribed and/or indexed, scanning
large tomes of local history books without indexes, and searching
bibliographies and collection guides for potential resources.  We have
people who want to be told what exact sites to go to in order to find
everything they need on the Internet, and we have others who won't or
can't learn to use a computer and want us to do all their Internet
searching for them.  

The other side of the coin, as has been discussed on this list this
week, is that more people are satisfied with what they find in their
"easy" Internet searches, and do not come into the libraries to pursue a
more complete and more accurate family history.  These people do not
progress to the truly complicated research questions that arise from
pre-19th century research, when records are fewer and inconsistencies in
name usage and spelling are greater, or they don't research their people
pre arrival in North America beyond determing country of origin.  Fewer
and fewer are delving into migration patterns, industrial histories, the
history of agricultural and financial disasters and booms, etc., to try
to figure out where their ancestors may have migrated from, or why their
ancestors moved from one place to another frequently and how to trace
probably moves in hopes of locating records.  One of my favorite
researchers who sends me research requests by mail for a fee has been
tracking the development of the lumber industry and railroads in PA, VA,
OH and WV, so he can find logical localities to check for birth records
for the children of an ancestor who worked in the lumber industry and
moved frequently between censuses.  This gentlemen has educated himself
about both industries, after realizing they were closely tied, and that
realized that if he found out where a rail line was expanding, the
lumber industry, and therefore potentially his ancestor, was not far
behind. His strategy has resulted in finding only one birth record so
far, but that is one record he would have been far less likely to find
if he had to pay for a multitude of random searches of birth records in
hundreds of counties.  

I know, I know, not everyone is addicted to the hunt as I and my
colleagues are, but what saddens me is that so many people don't think
it is worth the time and effort (and I admit sometimes expense) to find
answers to their puzzles and to do it as accurately as possible.  Then
again, maybe intellectual curiosity was never as common as we thought it
was.  

Susan Scouras
Librarian
WV Archives and History Library
The Cultural Center
1900 Kanawha Blvd. East
Charleston, WV  25305-0300
(304) 558-0230, Ext. 742
 


-----Original Message-----
From: genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
[mailto:genealib-bounces at mailman.acomp.usf.edu] On Behalf Of megan lewis
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 8:07 AM
To: Librarians Serving Genealogists
Subject: Re: [Genealib] RE: Declining use of collection 
Importance: Low


A colleague and I were talking about this yesterday.  We are finding
that the 
genealogists who do come visit/send us email are asking more complicated

questions.  Are other insitutions experiencing this?

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 11:32:02 -0600
>From: Jack Simpson <simpsonj at newberry.org>  
>Subject: [Genealib] RE: Declining use of collection   
>To: genealib at mailman.acomp.usf.edu
>
>We've also seen a decline in genealogy researchers over the last 8
>years, and I agree with the points Eric made explaining decline in use.
>Basically, over the past decade, many of the most-used genealogy
sources 
>in our collection have been digitized- because of this, users don't
need 
>to visit to use the most basic resources, such as the U.S. census.
>
>Last year, though, we saw a slight rise in genealogy researchers. We
>started holding (and advertising) a free monthly orientation for 
>genealogy users, and I think this was responsible for the increase in 
>use. So if you don't have a regular orientation, you might try that.
>
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