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© 1995-2009 Pat Richley
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Determining Book Lists for Family History Centers
From: Sherrie Burdick
theburdicks@ubtanet.com Dear Sherrie, Your primary responsibility is to function as a satellite of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, assisting patrons in borrowing microfilm/fiche from the larger main library facility. You have also been provided with at least one computer and PAF Personal Ancestral File, so that patrons without computers can computerize their ancestors by name, date, locality and family relationship. In the case of your LDS Church members, you will encourage them to follow through by attending the temple. Most of the FHCs outside Utah have thousands more non-members using the facilities, and we're thankful to realize we're all part of the family of man. Isn't it wonderful that genealogists so willingly share information they have gained to help the next person? Although it isn't necessary, FHC volunteers do tend to get involved in the research process with regular patrons of our centers. It should be foremost in our minds that our researchers are to become the experts on their families -- we just point them in the right direction. It is incumbent upon each patron to learn how to do research to prove his/her own family relationships. Thank-you for specifying WHERE in Utah. That makes a difference in my recommendations because there might be useful library collections nearby. Let's prioritize:
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The first two books explain the formation of counties and US states, including parent counties and the dates records began to be kept. Addresses for obtaining vital records, etc. from an ancestor's distant courthouse are provided. Although the contact information is also available online, beginning genealogy researchers often handle print media more readily. The third book explains how to compose useful and proper bibliographic citations whether one finds clues about an ancestor in a family bible, old letters, a compiled genealogy book, a probate record, an email, an online database, or a FHL microfilm. Perhaps the best way to avoid duplication is to check the online catalog for the nearest library before making any purchases. Remember that the library may have genealogical department resources in microfilm/fiche format in addition to books and maps. From what I can tell, Duchesne is a wonderful small town between Heber City (69 miles west) and Roosevelt (28 miles east), north/north east of Price (54.80 miles.) It would appear that the nearest public library is the Duchesne County Library in Roosevelt, Utah whose catalog is online at: http://www.duchesnegov.net/library/library.html If you know more about your local public library's genealogy collection, you'll be in a better position to encourage your patrons to also use that library for genealogical research.
-------------------------------------------------------- Most interesting: you have a "fixed bookmobile site" located at 130 S Center Street, Duchesne, Utah, in the old county courthouse. Find out if your library participates in ILL. Uintah Basin Bookmobile Library
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-------------------------------------------------------- Perhaps the single most important new thing your FHC can do is become high speed capable and then avail yourselves of the "free access to AncestryPlus" for Family History Centers. This will allow your patrons to look at some but not all of Ancestry.com databases. For a list of ALL databases at Ancestry see: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/alldblist.aspx They happen to have a lot on early LDS, by the way. Other important online resources include:
-------------------------------------------------------- (+ denotes fees involved, but still most noteworthy.)
------------------------------------------------------- In your case, I see that the Vernal FHC has the two book collections you are interested in purchasing. Why not take a field trip with your patrons -- carpooling to share expenses for the 1 hour drive? Do this on an annual basis to spark interest in continuing family history research if a lot of your church members have early church ancestors.
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Check out the resources available online at Brigham Young University's Center for Family History & Genealogy: http://familyhistory.byu.edu/index.asp
For help in using the PAF Personal Ancestral File software, see:
Remember, your patron may use another genealogy software program, but you are not expected to know them all. Each software program has its own built-in manual, under "help" on the program's menu bar. Many have multi-media tutorials in online or CD format.
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The printed versions of the Research Outlines simply cannot stay as up-to-date, and do not include clickable hyperlinks to pertinent websites those experts consider essential. Whenever I have someone ask me a question about a place I have never researched, I refer them to these wonderful research outlines.
-------------------------------------------------------- Remember also, that the LDS Church was founded in the 1830s, and it is nothing to go many centuries earlier in our ancestral quest in England, Germany and elsewhere. Vital records are official records of birth, marriage & death that are kept by the local government. Prior records of note would include church records of christening, marriage & burials. It is possible that the Family History Library has microfilm copies of the civil registration and/or church records for the areas where your patrons' ancestors once lived. Have your patrons check the Family History Library Catalog online at FamilySearch.org as it is much more complete than the CD version available at many FHCs.
-------------------------------------------------------- I recall a sweet lady in her 80s who had been away from our FHC for a number of weeks because of her research trip to England. She visited the town where her namesake great-grandmother once lived. A century had since passed and the researcher's parents were the first generation to live in the US. When our patron returned to the FHC, we naturally asked how the trip had gone. She got teary-eyed. Fortunately she found the old church where her ancestress had been buried. But over time, it had become a very large, over-grown cemetery. The older burial records were lost, so she had no choice but to walk up and down the rows for hours searching in vain for the woman's grave. Exhausted from the transatlantic flight and the heat of that particular day, our patron explained she finally had to sit down on a little bench to rest and wipe away her tears of frustration. Admitting defeat, she looked up and there across from her was the tombstone of her great-grandmother. Still over-whelmed by this miracle, our patron exclaimed: "You cannot tell me that my great-grandmother didn't want me to find her!" Happy family tree climbing! | ||||||||
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