InfoPeople Core2: Genealogy

So the business section of the Core2 Reference Mini-Course took me forever, rather than the two weeks I imagined it would take to read it off the computer and take notes. Paper saves the day by printing out the section, underlining and then coming back here to blog my notes. I'm going to try putting all the pieces in one post as well, as I have a feeling it won't be as hard as the business section.

Overview
People are interested in genealogy for their own varied reasons, whether out of curiosity, research into family stories, for medical reasons or to prove heritage. They are looking for "life stories and interesting details," and they'll need "corroborating documents." Types of tasks patrons are looking to do are to assemble a family tree or lineage, find specific documents, such as marriage licenses, prove their ethnic and racial heritage, or tie an ancestor to an historic event.

Getting Started
This kind of research takes a lot of work! It is time consuming. As a librarian, I shouldn't be made to feel like I have to do the work for the patron. Instead it is my job to guide them through the process and direct them to appropriate resources. (Just like everything else.) I should be aware of the following:

• Good Self Help Guides such as bibliographies, how-to manuals, and (online) instructional videos
• Logical Approaches - during the reference interview, think about what the patron is asking for and then tie it to the forms of data that would support it. For instance, in my patron's request about looking for documentation about her grandfather donating land to Fort Hood, looking at property related resources would be helpful.)
• Know how to locate local sources of help whether a historical society or (history/genealogy) department that has expertise.
• Assist with ILL and referrals to other libraries, ie. consult WorldCat.
• subject headings for genealogy research
• when looking for info on the genealogy process trying "Genealogy" will produce subheadings like "Genealogy--Library resources--Handbooks, manuals, etc"
• when looking for research resources for a geographic location or time, try the format "Geographic place--Genealogy--

Recommended handbooks for beginning research - General Handbooks:

• Handybook for Genealogists by Everton (929.1 HAN 1999) Probably the book the Red Book (below) is based on, this one lists the institutions to consult when tracking down records at the Federal, State and County levels of the US. It also includes an European section, that while not as detailed, will give researchers a starting point for tracing family across the Atlantic (Spain is not included. How can Spain not be included?!?) Migration routes and county maps included.
• Unpuzzling Your Past: The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy by Croom (929.1 CRO 2001) - the "hold your hand" book when you don't have a person to tell you how to get started. I find it at just 230 pages still a little wordy, but if comes full of examples to illustrate the point. Filled with lots of charts to make organizing easy, including space to note the sources of the information. Because this is a beginner guide, it is filled with general statements like, "consult county records." I'd like to see it point to a source such as Ancestry's Red Book (below) as a resource to tell beginners where county records are held (surprisingly, not all county records are maintained within the county).
• The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy: A Complete Resource For Using the Web to Trace Your Family History by Powell (929.1028 POW 2011) - another hold your hand type book, with emphasis on research online (versus microfilm?). No forms are included as the book assumes you are using software to track your lineage, but it does talk about how to document your process.
• The Researcher's Guide American Genealogy by Greenwood (929.1 GRE 2000 SGB)
• Evidence! [does this not beg to be highlighted?] Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian by Mills
• The BCG (Board for Certification of Genealogists) Genealogical Standards Manual by the BCG
• Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources edited by Eichholz (929.1072 RED 2004) - describes the type of resources collected by each U.S. state, who collected them during which time periods and where those resources are currently located. For instance, in my example about the woman who wanted to know about her great grandfather's land that was donated to Fort Hood, The Red Book says that property tax records are kept at the Texas State Library for the dates 1836-1976 and are available on microfilm. This book is an amazing resource. I will definitely be consulting it in the future!

Books My Current System Owns That I Want to Review

• The Source : a Guidebook to American Genealogy - Szucs, Loretto Dennis (929.107 SOU 2006) - seems to detail how records were created to build an understanding of the type of information you'll find in the various offices, agencies and institutions. I didn't find the Land Records section helpful, not even the detailing of it for Texas as it focused on the land owned by the state and how it was granted out to private individuals, but didn't include how to find ownership after deeding to private parties. There is a great section on understand how to research majority-minority ethnic groups in the U.S. to include African American, colonial Spanish, Hispanic, Jewish, and Native American peoples. This is a good book for understanding the why military records could be of importance, etc.
• International vital records handbook - Kemp, Thomas Jay (929.1 KEM 2009) - picks up where the out of date Handybook (see above) leaves off, though perhaps not as in-depth for U.S. state and county offices, this resource adds copies of application forms for the various types of records, giving the researcher an idea of what they'll need to supply in order to obtain records. The international section is worldwide, which is a nice acknowledgement that we live in a global community.
• Genealogist's Address Book : State and Local Resources: With Special Resources Including Religious Organizations - Bentley, Elizabeth Petty (929.1025 BEN) - similar to the Red Book (see above) in geographical scope, but more a directory of organizations to contact. This is the source to consult when a web search doesn't reveal anything regarding a historical society for a small town.
• Locating Lost Family Members & Friends : modern genealogical research techniques for locating the people of your past and present - Hinckley, Kathleen W., 1948-(929.1 HIN) - introduces the same types of resources such as vital records, military records, etc, however it gives good descriptions on those types of records with examples. Not overly detailed and not a directory though.

Specific Handbooks:

• Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records by Szucs & Wright
• A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestors by Carmack (929.1082 CAR 1998 - GENR)
• Land and Property Research in the United States by Hone
• They Came in Ships: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor's Arrival Record by Colletta (929.1072 COL 1989 - GENF) 

There's a youtube video about the US Census: youtu.be/yl54NX_H1ko

For beginners looking for direction on where to start, best place is with the fam. Sit down, have coffee or tea and a light snack, perhaps have a tape recorder or notepad handy and begin asking all they remember. Then do the same with other family members. Corroborate facts. Get dates and locations and spellings of legal names.

There do already exist compiled genealogies of families. (W.O.W!) But libraries don't readily lend these puppies out, so researchers may have to make a trip or purchase the published list.  You could consult the Genealogies in the Library of Congress bibliography, which is actually a book edited by Kaminkow (2001) and not a bib list online.

Local resources: Academic Libraries' history departments, or that of a larger institution, public or private. Or a genealogy department of a library; History/ Genealogical societies; the local Latter Day Saints Family History Centers which are mini centers of the Utah resource.

Finally, the most important thing for beginners to remember is to document their sources and keep the train of knowledge written down, so that you don't have to retrace your steps.. That book Evidence! is probably a good place to learn how.

Internet Resources

Online is a good place to go for assistance with specialized tasks such as tracking down "specific nationalities, countries and ethnic groups", especially if you know of good starting points. The two that the mini-course emphasize is the Library of Congress's Local History and Genealogy Reading Room and Cindi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Web. The first is the authoritative source of all things library. The second is a specialized directory to point researchers in the direction they need to go online.

Other Websites

• Family Search - familysearch.org
• Family History Library - https://familysearch.org/locations/saltlakecity-library
• National Genealogical Society - ngsgenealogy.org
• Ancestors: Glossary of Terms - byub.org/ancestors/records/glossary
• U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's Resources for Genealogists - http://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/index.html
• Rootsweb - rootsweb.com
• USGenWeb - usgenweb.com
• California Genealogy - cagenweb.com
• Specialized Sites:
• Jewish Gen - jewishgen.org
• AfriGeneas - afrigeneas.com
• Ellis Island - ellisisland.org
• Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System - www.itd.nps.gov/cwss - because everybody's family must have fought at one point, ya know? Except those of us whose lineage comes from other countries.

Records & Lineage
Looking for official records can vary from state to state. The Family Tree Magazine has a 2011 article title Best State Websites with listings included for their ability to search by name, browse indexes, and even view digitized documents. Family Tree Magazine also provides a list of states and the years they officially began keeping vital records (birth, death, marriage, etc).

"Real" Obits are written by news staff. Most obits of regular people are death notices placed by the family in the newspaper. Important: these may appear days after the person's actual death. Tracking down these articles may require referral to larger library, contacting a newspaper's archives (& paying a fee) or request the microfilm.

Death Index(es)
Typically you search by name and can retrieve SSN, Surname, Given name, DOD, DOB, Last known residence, date & place of issuance, birthplace, death place, age and mother's maiden name. The SSDI (SS Death Index) is a commercial product and requires a subscription (see your local library!). Be aware that the death index only includes those whose death was reported to the Social Security Administration. So older deaths may not be included. (My grandma is listed!) Look to see if other countries have similar death indexes.

Military Records
Official repository for discharged military records is the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)'s Veteran's Service Records.

Lineages
Search WorldCat to see if a family history has been published. An example is "Family history. Kentucky genealogies #1, 1700s-1800s" which has the following subject headings: Registers of births, etc. -- Kentucky. Kentucky -- Genealogy -- Sources. See also

• National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution - dar.org
• General Society of Mayflower Descendants - www.themayflowersociety.com
• Jamestowne Society - jamestowne.org

For Native American Lineage try the National Archive's Archival Research Catalog (ARC) Online Public Access. The notes said that the ARC provided indexes and census rolls, but I have no idea how to browse this sort of info on the OPA, because they are not under the Advanced Search. For ex.:

• Final Rolls of Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory
• Index to the Applications Submitted for the Eastern Cherokee Roll of 1909 (Guion Miller Roll) - this is currently at http://research.archives.gov/description/300330; Great, but once I have this info, how and for what do I use it?

Unrelated to OPA, but related to Native American Resources is the Bibliographies of Northern and Central California Indians compiled by Berkeley's Museum Informatics Project- the thing to note about this resource is that if there is a compiled Bib for California, look to see if other organizations of other states have their own compiled bib lists.

Heraldry & Coat of Arms
Is there royalty in the family? How many times removed are you? Search subject headings for "heraldry." See also:

• Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2007 by Kidd & Williamson
  We don't have this title, but we do have Debrett's Texas Peerage by Best, Hugh. (920 BES 1983 GEN)
• Debrett's Guide to Heraldry and Regalia by Williamson & Cole
• Heraldry: For the Local Historian and Genealogist by Friar
• Introduction to Heraldry by Oliver
• Heraldry on the Internet - www.digiserve.com/heraldry
• College of Arms - college-of-arms.gov.uk
• Medieval English Genealogy: Links and Bibliography for Heraldry - http://medievalgenealogy.org.uk/links/herrefs.shtml

InfoPeople Core2: Business Resources: Occupational Info

So you wanna job?

As I have tons of experience looking for jobs (I used to move around... a lot), applying to jobs, writing resumes and cover letters, and even a little bit in interviewing, I feel pretty comfortable with answering questions in this area. My library also gets a lot of questions about this area, so I have directed the users to the resources that we have in our database.

Resume Writing - it totally helps to have a coach, and thank God for my AmeriCorps trainer Jodi who taught us how to translate our service experience into applicable skills. Barring a personal trainer, the library I work for offers Career Transitions and JobNow, two databases that assist with creating the resume. One of them even provides real personal feedback. New resume books are always coming out, so be sure to look up the latest one in the catalog. There might even be targeted advice, such as for "women, recent grads, career changers or specific fields."

Online Resources

• Resumes, Cover Letters,& Other Job Search Correspondence
• Damn Good Resume
• there's more, it just gets to be a bit overwhelming

Info about Jobs and Industries

• Researching the field begins with the ever delightful Occupational Outlook Handbook available online and in print. I love this book. I love that it has info on how much you can expect to earn, the growth of the industry, the type of education you need and so much more.
• US Department of Labor and it's Wage and Hour Division page
• O*NET Online - use this site for more research into the field you are looking to join. (These sites are sites I would encourage high schoolers and college student to explore to learn more about the actual job market and the skills they'll need beyond the liberal arts degree. (Which I like, don't get me wrong!))

Actually Searching for a J-O-B? There are several job hunting sites such as Monster.com. I would recommend spending some time on them to learn about the titles of jobs and where there seems to be job hunters. It gives you an idea of geography. However, once you've learned a thing or two about skills needed and so forth, I recommend looking at associations, local and national, for leads in the fields. Identify the companies you'd like to work for and then apply to them. This helps you to focus on where and for whom you'd like to work. It shows you are interested in the organization and helps to prep you for the interview.

Infopeople Core2: Business Resources: Overview Notes

I signed up for Infopeople's online, self-paced tutorial Core2: Subject Area Mini Courses. It covers as many or as few of the following choices:

• Business resources and job hunting
• Consumer information
• Legal resources
• Medical information
• Genealogy
• Poems, songs, and quotations
• Homework help

I didn't take these classes in school because I was focused on doing digital library related stuff. I'm also very familiar with some of the resources, such as the homework help, having recommended them to patrons when I worked at Sacramento Public. However, I expect to still learn lots that I haven't been exposed to through the course of work, so I'm just going to work my way down the list, spending about 1-2 weeks per subject.

Notes:
Business Resources and Job Hunting
Overview Section

• If people ask for you to define a business term you could use a print resources like The American Heritage Dictionary of Business Terms or an online one such as Investopedia.com: Financial Dictionary
• These two print resources look as though they would be very useful:
• Strauss's Handbook of Business Information: a guide for librarians, students, and researchers, by Rita W. Moss (Libraries Unlimited, 2004)- a 400 page guide, sort of like the directory of public information. It tells you what sort of resources to consult for to locate different types of business info, such as company information and statistics. There is a 2013, 3rd edition.
• Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources (20th edition, Gale, 2009), (print and Gale Cengage ebook) From the WorldCat abstract: "comprehensive listing of business related finding aids including abstracting and indexing services, almanacs and yearbooks, bibliographies, biographical sources, directories, encyclopedias and dictionaries, financial ratios, handbooks and manuals, online databases, periodicals and newsletters, price sources, research centers and institutes, statistical sources trade associations and professional societies, and other related sources of information on each topic."
•   These two online resources were part of the "Time to Explore" section:
• The Library of Congress' Business Reference section (lcweb.loc.gov/rr/business). Like, hello, this is the LOC! I'm amazed that they provide business reference service to the general public, but the do. From the "about" page, "...business reference librarians thoroughly familiar with the indexes, online catalogs, computerized databases, CD-ROMs, and reference sources available in the Division, other locations in the Library of Congress, the Washington area, and indeed, throughout the world, are ready to assist readers with their inquiries and searches." It's interesting to me that the FAQs they have are not so exotic. People consult the LOC Biz Ref Division to learn how to find old stock certificate values, acquire sample business plans, SIC (and NAICS) Codes (more about that later), performance of companies and info on starting a business. This FAQ page provides both online and print recommendations pointing the user in a direction to begin their research. Other links bring the visitor to pages that describe the Biz Division collection. Bibliographies and Guides (if someone were to ask me to come up with Biz Bib List, I'd stop here first), a subject list to internet resources, links to historical information and current information. My mind is boggling as to what subjects and resources these librarians are required to know how to find.
• Internet Public Library's business page (ipl.org/IPLBrowse/GetSubject?vid=13&tid=6607&parent=0) As of this blog post, clicking on this link will take you to a list of over 500 online resources, sorted in no particular order (possibly in entry order?). Since nobody wants to browse through a list of 500+ links, in the left hand column there are sub-headings such as "Labor and Workplace" and "History of Business and Economics."
• The two terms on the overview page that I have difficultly remembering or even thinking about are the SIC Codes (Standard Industrial Classification) and NAICS Codes (North American Industry Classification System). Businesses are given these codes to classify the industry in which they work so that businesses in the same classification may be compared to each other. I remember using this we I was searching Reference USA to locate the businesses around my zip code.
• The overview sections lists these databases as some of the more popular:
• Business & Company Resource Center (Cengage/Infotrac)(being transformed into Business Insights: Essentials)- more than journal articles- for analyzing businesses and data research
• D&B Million Dollar Database- more than journal articles- for analyzing businesses and data research
• EBSCOHost Business Source (Complete, Primier, Elite and Corporate, depending on the institution subscribing and their level of needs)- Indexing of Biz Journal Articles
• Mergent Online (formerly Moody's)- company data, insider reports, fact sheets, annual reports, bond info, corporate family trees, etc.
• Poor's NetAdvantage- from the site, "source of business and investment information, offering on-line access to S&P's independent research, data and commentary on stocks, bonds, funds, and industries."
• Reference USA- business and residential directories with corporate family trees. "create marketing plans, conduct competitive analysis, etc.
• Finally, there's IP's Resources Listing of Business Resources and Job Hunting

Tools for Working the Adult Reference/ Reader's Advisory Desk

This past week has been the week of the research paper at the public library. All these middle, high school and college students coming in (the latter I suspect attend the local community colleges, which nonetheless have libraries and better database subscriptions than we do). But I love research! I'm so glad I get to do it with my public library patrons.

Today's college research student wanted authoritative resources on religion in the 1700-early 1800s in the colonial united states. I was looking under religion-United States-18th century as a subject heading. My supervisor spontaneously suggested Daily Life in Colonial America (Lucent library of historical eras) which has a subject heading of United States -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775. This makes sense as religion was a part of Colonial cultural life whereas "religion- united states - 18th century" may be more about the history and evolution of religion in that era. Not sure what exactly the researcher really wanted, but she seemed to walk away happy.

Her second request was for books about the values and morals of modern families versus traditional families. Well, I started asking for a bit of clarification by what she meant by traditional (nuclear? christian?) and what she meant by modern (same sex parents? divorced parents? blended families?) and she said she hadn't figured it out yet. My supervisor happened to be next to me and he suggested she do a little reading on the broad subject in order to get an idea on how to define her terms and narrow her topic down. She felt overwhelmed, but I explained that it was all part and partial of the whole experience of selecting a topic and writing a paper.

My sup then sneaked up behind me and slid the following two books on my desk for my perusal and professional development:

• 10,000 Ideas for term papers, projects, reports and speeches by Lamm, K. 1998 - This book lists ideas under broad topic areas (ex. Foreign Policy (broad topic), "Compare reconstruction policies of the United States in Japan and in Germany after World War II." (specific topic)) Helpful symbols indicate those topics on which there should be plenty of source material, which will need prior specialized knowledge, which topics will need to be broadened or narrowed, etc. Just ideas are listed here, no other resources. 808.02 LAM
• 100 More Research Topic Guides for Students by McDougald, D. 1999 - This book pairs ideas with extra information, such as a general description, call numbers and subject headings to search for books that will provide source material, as well as suggestions for specific titles, periodicals and indexes to search, internet sites, videos, organizations, etc as well as related topics. (Very awesome and helpful, but only if your topic idea is listed, still, it helps to see how the info may be organized.) Reference 025.524 MCD

Finally, my supervisor placed in my hands the DEWEY Decimal Classification 11th Abridged Edition, which is found on the ready reference shelf. As I didn't take a traditional cataloging class, this is most helpful to just see how the subjects are grouped. I especially like to reference the relative index which lists the broad subjects alphabetically and lists the sub-topics, then shows the dewey numbers, which could be all over the place. The Central branch has the LOC subject headings and I would love to own a copy of that, but it's a multi-volume set and always being updated, so I guess I just wait until I'm rich.