Finding Dead People - American Library Association · Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local History Resources for the ILL Practitioner ©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013

Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local History Resources for the ILL Practitioner

©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013

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Amber Case University of Washington - Seattle Lead Borrowing Technician University of Wisconsin – Madison

School of Library & Information Studies Instructor - Genealogy Library Services

Introductions


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Cherié Finley Weible University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Head of Central Access Services Associate Professor

Introductions


Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local History Resources for the ILL Practitioner


Outline

● The rising popularity of genealogy ● Why are genealogy ILL request so difficult? ● Indexes to Print Genealogies ● Online Resources ● Genealogy Repositories ● Difficult Requests (and how we solved them…) ● Top Tips For Filling Your Genealogy Requests ● Q & A

Outline


Growing Popularity “Genealogy is hot. The same hobby that once was the preferred pastime of shutins, spinsters and confirmed bachelors has become widely popular...There's a broad, mainstream interest in family history” – ABC News

“Visitors to online genealogy sites are mostly white women, 55 and older, who browse the Internet from home...It’s a demographic projected to grow 36 percent by 2020, three times as fast as any other group.” – Bloomberg Businessweek

Rising Popularity


http://abcnews.go.com/Business/genealogy-hot-hobby-worth-16b-mormons/story?id=17544242�



http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-20/ancestry-dot-coms-genealogical-juggernaut�





Genealogy in Popular Media

Popular TV Shows


Why are genealogy requests so difficult?

Unshelved. December 2, 2002


http://www.unshelved.com/2002-12-2�

Why are genealogy requests difficult? ● Material not widely published or collected

○ May only be held by small historical/genealogical societies

● Non-circulating due to age or rarity ● Difficult citations

○ Obituaries (top tips later!) ○ Newspaper articles ○ Biographical sketches in books

Why so difficult?


Indexes to Print Genealogies


MEYERINK, K. L. (1998). Printed sources: a guide to published genealogical records. Salt Lake City, Ancestry.

Print Indexes


American Genealogical Biographical Index

• Every name index to 800 printed genealogies and other compiled sources housed at the Godfrey Memorial Library

• Over 5.5 million entries • Found in print (200+ volumes)

and electronically on HathiTrust (select volumes), Ancestry Library Edition, and WorldVitalRecords

Print Indexes


Genealogical Index of the Newberry Library

• Surname index to 3,000 volumes including genealogies, local histories, and periodicals published prior to 1917

• Digital version available on HathiTrust

Print Indexes


Online Resource Periodical Source Index - PERSI

● Index created by Allen County Public Library of genealogy and local history articles published in U.S. and Canada back to 1800

● 2.3 million records from genealogy and local history periodicals

● Available in Allen County Public Library OR through HeritageQuest.

● Coming Soon? - FindMyPast.com working with ACPL to link index to full text of article. FindMyPast is a subscription site but does have a Pay-Per-View model.

Print Indexes



Print Indexes


Print Indexes


National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) ● Operated by the Library of Congress ● Mission: “catalog describing archival and

manuscript collections held by eligible repositories located throughout the United States and its territories”

● Project began in 1959 ● ‘Over 114,000 collections in nearly 1,800

repositories cataloged over the course of the program.’

Print Indexes


● Records from 1959-1985 available in print volumes; 1986-present available on OCLC WorldCat

● Index to Personal Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1984

● Index to Subjects and Corporate Names in the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, 1959-1984

Print Indexes


Online Sources


Online Resource Google Books

● 30+ million volumes ● Full View, Limited Preview, Snippet, No View ● Great for county histories, legal proceedings, state

and federal government publications, and out of copyright periodicals.

● ILLiad Add-On

Online Sources


Full View


Snippet View

Romelia


Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

● Launched in April 2013 ● Mission: “to establish a national network out of the

over forty state/regional digital libraries and myriad large digital libraries in the US...into a single access point for users”

Online Sources


DPLA Partners

Online Sources



Family History Books ● 80,000 genealogy and family history publications

Online Sources



HeritageQuest

Paid Subscription through Proquest 7 million digitized page images from over 28,000

family histories, local histories, and other books University of California – San Diego loaded 22,176

records into OCLC from items found in HeritageQuest. OCLC symbol – HQSTO

Online Sources


Online Sources


Chronicling America – Newspaper Directory

● Includes ‘library catalog records created by state institutions during the NEH-sponsored United States Newspaper Program’

● Covers 1690-present ● 140,000 bibliographic title

entries and 900,000 separate library holdings records. Records are updated annually.

Online Sources



Online Sources


Chronicling America - Digital Newspapers

Online Sources


Basic Search

Online Sources


Advanced Search


Browse for Titles



Online Resource Wikipedia: List of Digital Newspaper

Online Sources


Genealogy Repositories


● Allen County Public Library ● Mid-Continent Public Library ● National Genealogical Society’s Collection ● Family History Library ● Local collections

○ Use the geographic location of the request to identify local libraries, archives, and genealogical societies

○ Champaign County Historical Archives is housed within the Urbana Free Library



● 350,000 printed volumes and 513,000 microfilm/microfiche representing ● 55,000 volumes of compiled genealogies ● 48,000 city directories ● 6,200 current periodical subscriptions

● Services offered include photocopies from sources including periodicals, family histories and direct records sources such as the military pension indexes:

● Does not use OCLC for genealogical requests; the OCLC symbol is for Public Library collection



Mid-Continent Public Library ● Midwest Genealogy Center (OCLC: CMI) ● Genealogy from the Heartland collection offers

over 17,000 genealogy and local history books available through ILL to researchers nationwide FREE OF CHARGE



http://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy/genealogy-heartland-books�

http://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy/genealogy-heartland-books�

NGS Library Collection ● National Genealogical Society Book

Loan Collection (OCLC: ZAE) ● Housed at St. Louis County Library (SLCL) ● More than 20,000 circulating volumes ● All items may be checked out or

borrowed through ILL ● Policy restricts two books loaned at a time

to a patron. ● Will copy up to 30 pages from one item



Family History Library ● Does not use traditional ILL; still a valuable resource ● ‘The collection includes over 2.4 million rolls of

microfilmed genealogical records; 727,000 microfiche; 356,000 books, serials, and other formats; over 4,500 periodicals and 3,725 electronic resources.’

● Microfilm loans to Family History Centers around the world for a nominal fee.

● Free document delivery service for individuals



https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Introduction_to_LDS_Family_History_Centers�

Difficult Requests And how we solved them….


Book Title: History of King County Washington.

Volume 1. Author: Clarence B. Bagley Pub. Date: 1929 Notes: Most interested in information on Robbins

family including a photo of Robbins family homestead that is supposedly featured in this book.

Difficult Request 1


First Step

● Submitted request to several libraries to try to borrow book

● Unfilled as non-circulating

Difficult Request 1


Next Step

● Submitted new request for photocopy of index. ● No entries for Robbins

Difficult Request 1


Additional Formats

● Is it available in other formats? ● Print OCLC record:

Difficult Request 1


Google Books

Difficult Request 1


New Photocopy Request

● Submitted a request for title page and pages 288, 709, and 734.

Difficult Request 1


• Richard Smith • Death date unknown; suspected 1900-1910 Livingston Co., IL • Patron searched source

Find-A-Grave • Located date 17 May 1902 • ILL staff used newspaper Index at ALPL (Springfield, IL) • Located Fairbury Blade

nearest community

Difficult Request 2


• Obituary for Robinson Smith • Died in California between 1910 and 1920 • Last known residence Tulare County in 1910 • Search engine: Tulare County Obituary Index

• Leads to CA Genweb and Tulare County Obituaary Index

• Date of obit 17 Aug 1910 in Tulare Advance Register • Librarian did additional work to provide cemetery

where he was buried and also provided spouse’s name and death date

Difficult Request 3


Difficult Request 3


D • Obituary for Alexander Smith • Died in Springhill Township, Fayette Co.,

Pennsylvania between 1910 and 1920 • Patron asked to narrow down date

• Located possible cemetery listing for December 1910 • WorldCat

• Keyword search Fayette and Pennsylvania and limit to serial • 147 results • Chose Daily News Standard and The Morning Herald both

published in Uniontown, PA; county seat, nearest community

Difficult Request 4


Top Tips for Filling Your Requests


● Be sure the date of death is known and correct. ● Check for local obituaries indexes. ● Scan entire newspaper. ● Be creative with names.

● Look for variants of the name. ● Look for married woman under Mrs. [husband’s

name]. ● Check newspapers for both last known

residence and home town. ● Don’t forget to check ethnic or religious

newspapers.

Tips for Obituaries


● Ask for a loan of the newspaper film if possible; many libraries are not staffed to spend time locating obituaries.

● Although loans usually cost the patron more it allows the chance to find additional information such as: ○ notice of illness before death ○ visits from family before death ○ time to find obituary that can be printed up to a month or

more afterward in a newspaper ○ cards of thanks from family ○ notice of filing of probate or estate

Tips for Obituaries


Top Tips for Filling Requests ● Choose who you send request to strategically

○ What type of library? ○ How does the material fit into the collection?

● Think outside OCLC. ● Check for alternate format. ● Check for locally created indexes. ● If material is non-circulating

○ Check if photocopy if possibility ○ If too long to copy, ask for copy of index

● If needed, go back to the patron for more information!

Top Tips


It’s okay to cancel! ● "Interlibrary loan is the process by which a library

requests material from, or supplies material to, another library.” - ALA

● If user is not looking for a specific source, evaluate if you have the staffing, time, and other resources to do beyond this. It is OKAY to cancel!

● Create a cancellation email template that helps point these patrons to reference librarians and/or other local genealogical research help.

One More Tip


Board of Certification of Genealogists - http://www.bcgcertification.org/

National Institute on Genealogical Research http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~natgenin/

National Institute for Genealogical Studies http://genealogicalstudies.com/

Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research http://www4.samford.edu/schools/ighr/

Boston University – Genealogical Research Programs http://professional.bu.edu/programs/genealogy/

University of Wisconsin – Genealogy Library Services (online taught by Amber Case) http://www.slis.wisc.edu/Genealogy.htm

Check your local genealogical and historical society – many offer a wealth of wonderful classes on genealogical research!

Want to learn more about genealogy and family history?


http://www.bcgcertification.org/�

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~natgenin/�

http://genealogicalstudies.com/�

http://www4.samford.edu/schools/ighr/�

http://professional.bu.edu/programs/genealogy/�

http://www.slis.wisc.edu/Genealogy.htm�

Thanks!

Questions? Additional resources or tips?

Amber Case - [email protected] Cherié Weible - [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]�




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Finding Dead People - American Library Association · Finding Dead People Genealogy and Local History Resources for the ILL Practitioner ©Amber Case and Cherié Weible October 2013