[Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up

[Melissa Barker]

Hello,

I totally agree with what John and Trevia have said from a Professional Genealogists point of view.  The online catalogs are a must.  My only suggestion is that when one arrives at the repository that you ask the librarian "what's new".  The reason being that sometimes the online catalogs are not updated as often as they should be and I know that libraries and archives are continually getting new material.


Sincerely,
Melissa Barker
Professional Genealogist for Tennessee and Kentucky
My Website:  www.freewebs.com/genealogyservices/


From: john at johnwylie.com 
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 8:11 AM
To: 'Librarians Serving Genealogists' 
Subject: RE: [Genealib] Genealogy Room Set-up


Like Trevia, I too am a professional genealogist. I use many libraries in my traveling research. For what it's worth here's how I use your wonderful collections: 

First: Before I travel, I visit you online to refine my task list for your locality. Perhaps it's my limited 19 year experience doing this full time, but most library websites and online catalogs are of marginal help.  

Second: When I arrive and before I start working my task list, I ask you for a brief orientation, especially what you have that no one else has. You're almost always thrilled to show it off. And I'm grateful. This step has revealed answers I would otherwise have missed, sometimes to questions I didn't know to ask. Most of your unique stuff is not in the catalog or impossible to find on your website if I don't already know your collection well, which I never will. 

Third: I work my task list.

Fourth: I browse the shelves. If the collection isn't well organized by locality, I skip this step. As others have observed better than I could, even with good cataloging, the Dewey system is not responsive to my needs. 

John Wylie

Member, APG  



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