[Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up

Tue Jul 7 19:54:21 EDT 2009

<< I become so frustrated when people come in here and haven't used our catalog and Alabama Room helps to see what we have before they show up. >>

One of the things I  stress to my genealogy classes is what a great research tool the online catalog of any library is!

Pull up the items you think you want to research at home; saves precious library time for research. Use the printout to date when you were there and to record your notes ... . either brief notes or you can use the printout to attach to those copies you make and have a good reference for citation.  Yes, I know those with laptops will probably just want to type in all that stuff. And that's o.k. but a lot of people still don't have them. 
     Anytime you plan to visit for the first time, do yourself and the librarians a favor - take time to get "very" familiar with their online catalog if they have one. If going out of town, check to see "all" the libraries that may have what you need (general public, a genealogy collection/library, college/university library) and use their online catalog as well.  And don't forget to check their schedule!

   Trevia

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Brannan, Joyce 
  To: 'Librarians Serving Genealogists' 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 6:19 PM
  Subject: RE: [Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up

  This really points out the importance of having a "GOOD" catalog, and having it in more than one location.   If I am researching my Stiles family, what good is having the library by location?  I have Stiles in New Jersey, England, Ohio, Virginia, and New York.  If the arrangement is by location, and I don't know to look in all those places, I will not find everything.  Biographically doesn't work either.  If the name is in a book with other names, how will it be shelved?   

  A good cataloger, who understands genealogy research, should take the time to add extensive contents notes making it possible to search for almost everything, everyplace, and any name in the catalog.  With computers we can do this.  Unfortunately, most libraries don't have the budget to allow a cataloger the time to enhance a record this way.  And, many catalogers do not see the value of taking the time to do it. 

  When I am doing research, I prefer a "local history" room where items that are truly locally specific are housed separately.  For everything else, I prefer it be shelve by Dewey.

  I become so frustrated when people come in here and haven't used our catalog and Alabama Room helps to see what we have before they show up.  Our archive files are all region specific and filed as we get them. But the index info is online.  I realize that many small libraries aren't online, but if they are, find out what they have before you go!

  Joyce Adams Brannan

  Technical Services Librarian

  Julia Tutwiler Library

  University of West Alabama

  Livingston, AL 35470

  205.652.3677

  jbrannan at uwa.edu

  >>> "Kate Stirk" <stirkk at juno.com> 7/7/2009 4:29 PM >>>
  I admit to having very strong feelings on this topic because I'm usually only allowed a few hours to do research while my dear spouse is waiting as patiently as he can...

  Please think about your researchers. Put the collection in order by region, then by state and within the state by county. Alphabetically by county. The library in Macon, Georgia is this way.

  When people come in to look for family- they look for the county where events happened. Having all the books on that county (marriage, deeds, wills, cemetery, church, etc) together makes it so much easier for your patrons.

  Please do not do it strictly by Dewey- those collections are so hard to use because the marriages are all in one area, the cemeteries in another....

  There is a library (which shall remain nameless) close to me that has gone Dewey- and they do not have a catalog in the genealogy area....I just quit going there. No catalog, books on a county in a variety of shelves- chaos for a researcher.

  When I go in a genealogy library done strictly by Dewey, I know the catalogers made the decision not the genealogists.....

  Kate Stirk, Librarian
  Chattahoochee Technical College, North Metro Campus
  StirkK at Juno.com

  "But you see, just because we've been ... dealt a certain hand...it doesn't mean that we can't choose to rise above --- to conquer the boundaries of a destiny that none of us wanted." --Edward Cullen, vampire [Twilight, pg 307,  by Stephanie Meyer]

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