The following is from the Fort Wayne Library Genealogy Gems Newsletter.
WorldCat and FamilySearch--Enhancing Our Discovery Systems
by Curt B. Witcher
Exciting news! The nearly three million catalog records in the Family History Library (FHL) Catalog soon will appear in WorldCat, a free, online database currently listing more than 1.6 billion catalog records for more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. This is being made possible through collaboration between FamilySearch, the world’s largest genealogical operation, and OCLC, the world’s largest cooperative. FamilySearch and OCLC signed an agreement for the project at the American Library Association’s midwinter meeting in Seattle, Washington. What this means for genealogists is that anyone searching WorldCat for a surname, geographic location, ethnic group or organization will now have access to the bibliographic information FamilySearch has been compiling for years on its collection of family and local history materials from around the world.
>From the press release: “Under this new partnership, OCLC will incorporate data from FamilySearch’s catalog of genealogical materials into WorldCat, and FamilySearch will use OCLC cataloging services to continue to catalog its collections in WorldCat. FamilySearch will also use the WorldCat Search API to incorporate WorldCat results into search results returned by FamilySearch genealogy services.”
For those tempted to think this really isn’t that big of a deal, it is important to recall the old adage that “next to knowing, is knowing where to find out.” In our Google-dominated world, many born-on-the-web genealogists (which are the overwhelming majority of those actively engaged in family history pursuits) are content to
almost exclusively engage in surname searching. “Key a surname and explore the many thousands of hits I get!” is the approach that typically carries the day. That strategy can leave one overwhelmed with results, often not knowing how to value or evaluate those results.
Because of WorldCat’s work with Google and other search engines, though, one more frequently finds books and other research resources listed in search results. Soon web searchers will find citations for FamilySearch resources, resources that include their immense collection of original microfilmed and digitized records. As
FamilySearch increasingly has its microfilmed resources digitized, finding these bibliographic records in WorldCat will increasingly mean one is linking to actual digital images of the records being described in the catalog. Digitized FamilySearch materials will now join the digitized entities of the HathiTrust, Google Books, the Internet Archive and others on WorldCat. How cool is that?!
For whatever reasons, so many libraries and research centers simply don’t have FamilySearch and the FHL catalog on their “radar” as web spaces with great family history “tool kits,” let alone great history resources. A FHL catalog presence in WorldCat will increase the chances that family history researchers as well as researchers in numerous other related fields will discover the valuable materials FamilySearch has gathered and made accessible over the years.
FHL library records living in WorldCat means that users have the ability to create and save lists and bibliographies that include FHL bibliographic resources. While free to access with no login required, you can create a free account in WorldCat, and then compile and annotate a research list on a family, location or other topic. That compilation lives in the cloud, and can be accessed anywhere with an Internet connection.
WorldCat offers some additional functionality that is pretty neat. Its “Find a Library” mobile app enables users to find the libraries closest to them that own a particular book. Once a particular library is chosen, it is possible to view information regarding that library’s location, phone number and e-mail address. The researcher also can
link to library’s online catalog for more specific item information, and call the library directly to confirm the availability of the book or other item.
In addition to the “Find a Library” app, there are nine different WorldCat apps for the iPhone, and three of them are also available for the Android. There are two experimental features currently available on the WorldCat site. One is “WorldCat Genres,” which is supposed to assist users in discovering resources by titles, subjects and locations just to mention a few of the grouping possibilities. It will be interesting to see if that works well in the genealogy space. The other, “WorldCat Identities Network,” is being developed to help researchers determine relationships between individuals, locations, historical events and the like found in books and other materials.
And I haven’t even mentioned how getting WorldCat results in FamilySearch queries will broaden and enrich the discovery experience for the hundreds of thousands of individuals who use FamilySearch each day. Indeed, “next to knowing is knowing where to find out.” Kudos to FamilySearch and OCLC for partnering to enhance the discoverability of key informational resources in WorldCat!
Friday, February 01, 2013
Mark Your Calendar - UVTAGG Meeting!
UTAH VALLEY TECHNOLOGY AND GENEALOGY GROUP MEETING (UVTAGG)
The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 09 Feb 2013, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvtagg.org .
The main presentation this month will be by Margaret Young on NOBODY KNOWS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK MORMONS. Margaret Blair Young teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. An accomplished author, she has won numerous awards from the Utah Arts Council and other organizations. These include Best Short Story Collection and, twice, Best Novel of the Year. She has also written three plays and teaches at the Spanish Institute at BYU. In addition, she and Darius Gray co-authored a thoroughly documented trilogy of historical fiction titled Standing on the Promises, about Black Mormon pioneers or slaves of Mormon pioneers, which received a special award from the Association for Mormon Letters. She has also co-produced (again with Darius Gray) a documentary about African-American pioneer Jane Manning James, titled Jane James: Your Sister in the Gospel. She is currently working on another documentary. Margaret and her husband, Bruce, a professor of English at BYU, are the parents of four children and live in Provo, Utah. A website listing her works and information is http://mormonlit.lib.byu.edu/
After the main presentation the following classes are presently scheduled:
All meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually about 100 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Renee Zamora, Secretary; Kay Baker, Don Engstrom, and Rayanne Melick working with membership and finances, and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out DVDs of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Many members don't live close enough to participate in the monthly meetings, but belong so they can receive the monthly newsletter and purchase DVD's of the presentations and classes. And many members give gift memberships to friends for presents. Information about the Group, presentations, classes, and class notes can be found at the websites mentioned above. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvtagg.org(801-225-6106) or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.
The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - UVTAGG (Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group - UVPAFUG) will be on Saturday, 09 Feb 2013, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. Information about the Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website http://uvtagg.org and the press releases are at http://blog.uvtagg.org .
The main presentation this month will be by Margaret Young on NOBODY KNOWS: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BLACK MORMONS. Margaret Blair Young teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. An accomplished author, she has won numerous awards from the Utah Arts Council and other organizations. These include Best Short Story Collection and, twice, Best Novel of the Year. She has also written three plays and teaches at the Spanish Institute at BYU. In addition, she and Darius Gray co-authored a thoroughly documented trilogy of historical fiction titled Standing on the Promises, about Black Mormon pioneers or slaves of Mormon pioneers, which received a special award from the Association for Mormon Letters. She has also co-produced (again with Darius Gray) a documentary about African-American pioneer Jane Manning James, titled Jane James: Your Sister in the Gospel. She is currently working on another documentary. Margaret and her husband, Bruce, a professor of English at BYU, are the parents of four children and live in Provo, Utah. A website listing her works and information is http://mormonlit.lib.byu.edu/
After the main presentation the following classes are presently scheduled:
- RecordSeek - A New Tool to Add Sources to Family Tree, by Marilyn Thomsen
- Jump Starting Your English Research (PC & MAC), by Ron Snowden
- Personal Help (including Family Tree and Family Tree Photos), by Don Engstrom, Finn Hansen, and Beth Ann Wiseman
- Video of last month's main presentation: The Church History Library's Online Databases, by Alan Morrell
- Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay
- Legacy, by Dean Bennett
- RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee.
All meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually about 100 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Liz Kennington, Newsletter Editor; Renee Zamora, Secretary; Kay Baker, Don Engstrom, and Rayanne Melick working with membership and finances, and Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen working with the DVD Library. Several of these will be there to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out DVDs of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Many members don't live close enough to participate in the monthly meetings, but belong so they can receive the monthly newsletter and purchase DVD's of the presentations and classes. And many members give gift memberships to friends for presents. Information about the Group, presentations, classes, and class notes can be found at the websites mentioned above. For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvtagg.org(801-225-6106) or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at laurie@everythingisrelative.
Scottish Property Records for 1905 Go Online
The following is from Scotlands People.
From tenements to palaces - these records offer a fascinating snapshot of Scotland during the Edwardian era and are a major new genealogy resource
Over 2 million names of Scots included in the property records for 1905 are being released today online for the first time via ScotlandsPeople, the official government family history website. The new records, known as the Valuation Rolls and comprising over 2.4 million indexed names and over 74,000 digital images, cover every kind of building, structure or property in Scotland which were assessed as having a rateable value.
The Rolls also reveal much about the changing social fabric of Scotland at this time – such as the growth in women owning property and running businesses, the rise in sports and recreation clubs, the development of music halls and theatres, and the expansion of railway hotels. As the Rolls include details about rents and the value of property, they will also help researchers to learn more about the cost of living during this period.
Fully-searchable by name and address, the records list the names of owners, tenants and occupiers of each property - so genealogists, historians and other researchers can now discover fresh insights into their ancestors’ lives through viewing these new records. As the 1905 Rolls appear between census years, they will be invaluable for genealogists who are trying to fill in gaps about their ancestors.
People from all social classes are included in the 1905 Valuation Rolls - from well-known land and property owners, to the tenants of Scotland’s tenements. Some of the famous Scots whose property situation appears in the records are AJ Balfour, Keir Hardie, Sir Hugh Munro, Lady Gordon Cathcart, Lord Armitstead and Donald Stewart (head gamekeeper to Queen Victoria).
Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, said:
“ScotlandsPeople is a wonderful gateway to Scotland’s wealth of archives that tell the story of our nation and its people. I welcome this latest addition to their digital resources, which can be enjoyed by the people of Scotland, and people of Scottish descent everywhere.”
Audrey Robertson, Acting Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland, said:
"The latest release of details about property owners and tenants in 1905 will be very useful for people researching the history of their family, or of their house or local area. The rolls can be searched alongside other records in ScotlandsPeople, and may help locate people who cannot be found in other sources.”
Chris van der Kuyl, the CEO of brightsolid, the company that enables ScotlandsPeople for the National Records of Scotland, said:
“The publication of the 1905 Valuation Rolls on ScotlandsPeople is another important piece of the jigsaw for helping people to trace their Scottish ancestry. As well as appealing to people’s fascination with property, these new records will complement the 1911 Census records that were published on ScotlandsPeople in 2011.”
The Valuation Rolls will be available on the ScotlandsPeople website (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk), and at the ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh. These new online records will be interesting both to people in Scotland and to the Scottish diaspora across the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the rest of the world.
Special Wall Chart Offer for St. George Expo 2013
The following is from Family History Expos.
For those coming to the St. George Expo 2013 at the Dixie Center there will be no shipping charges when you provide your information and order your charts no later than midnight February 20, 2013. Genealogy Wall Charts will bring your pre-printed charts to the Expo where you can pick them up.
Genealogy Wall Charts foremost goal has always been finding ways to help further genealogical work and helping inspire those who do it.
There are a number of different groups we are concerned with.
1) Many genealogists simply cannot afford printing their own ancestors in order to visually see where they need work. Continually ordering charts as changes are made can be cost prohibitive. Genealogy Wall Charts works extremely hard to keep costs low and have provided black and white genealogy copies up to 3 feet by 6 feet for no more than $13.95 plus shipping. This allows users to condense 15 plus generations.
2) Feedback shows many are excited and inspired to see family history presented in different ways. Genealogy Wall Charts helps inspire different groups by presenting your ancestors using different themes, sports, hobbies, etc., helping make Family History fun and more meaningful.
We look forward to seeing you in February at the St. George Family History Expo. Register Now for this great event. Our speakers and exhibitors are phenomenal this year and you will be well fed for having attended. Let us help you in furthering your personal research with the latest in techniques and available tools.
Sincerely,
Holly T. Hansen
Register Now for St. George Family History Expo 2013
Learn the tech to trace your roots!
Only three weeks to go! We are very excited to be coming back to the Dixie Convention Center in St. George, UT for the St. George Family History Expo 2013 on February 22-23, 2013. Take advantage of our pre registration for only $79. Onsite registration will begin and the exhibit hall will open at noon on Friday February 22nd. The event will close at 8:30 p.m. Exhibits and registration will re-open at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The exhibit hall will close at 4 p.m. Prizes donated by exhibitors will be given away both days and Grand Prizes donated by sponsors will be given away at the closing ceremony. This event is sponsored by Family History Expos and supported by FamilySearch. Click here to register now. If you have already registered, forward this email to a friend and have them come with you.
Special Offer from Genealogy Wall Charts
There are a number of different groups we are concerned with.
1) Many genealogists simply cannot afford printing their own ancestors in order to visually see where they need work. Continually ordering charts as changes are made can be cost prohibitive. Genealogy Wall Charts works extremely hard to keep costs low and have provided black and white genealogy copies up to 3 feet by 6 feet for no more than $13.95 plus shipping. This allows users to condense 15 plus generations.
2) Feedback shows many are excited and inspired to see family history presented in different ways. Genealogy Wall Charts helps inspire different groups by presenting your ancestors using different themes, sports, hobbies, etc., helping make Family History fun and more meaningful.
Sincerely,
Holly T. Hansen
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