[Genealib] Cataloging Genealogy Materials

[genealogy genealogy]

Hi all,

I was recently hired to manage the Everton Genealogy Collection which
is now at the Logan City Public Library in Logan, Utah. As many of you
probably know the collection of over 80,000 local history and genealogy
materials was donated to the Logan library about two years ago, and it
finally opened to the public two days ago! We're so excited to make this
really great collection available to the public! In some respects it's
one-of-a-kind.

The collection came in a total disarray, and it's been a major project
even just to get to this point. The items are in a rough Dewey Decimal
order, and we have a title-author database to search the collection. It
is available, incidentally, at http://library.loganutah.org/genealogy/

I am currently half way finished with my MLS degree and some aspects of
the job I've found very daunting (I'm the only employee working on the
collection). I've decided to make some of my assignments directly
related to the collection and to genealogy librarianship. Currently I'm
collecting information on cataloging genealogy materials not only with
the idea of properly cataloging the collection sometime in the future
but also to fill an assignment. 

Does anyone have any ideas that they'd like to share? I'm particularly
interested in some of the challenges that genealogy poses in cataloging
and how they're overcome. I'd also love to know about any genealogy
specific resources for cataloging.

Thanks,


Jason E. Cornelius-Associate Librarian
Everton Genealogy Collection
Logan Public Library
Logan, Utah 84321