Selling Your Library – Promoting E-Resources, Part 2

Ok, so I’m still working on updating the brochures for our e-Resources.  Life being what it is, I‘ve had a few interruptions and haven’t gotten very far.  Still, I promised that I would do a blurb on e-Resources on the last Friday of every month.  This week: Ancestry Library.

 I was speaking to a library manager about the library service response:  Discover Your Roots: Genealogy and local History.  Her concern was that the cost of running a program would cut into other programs the library offered.  Using the resources provided through TRAC allows libraries to meet library service responses, without having to spend additional funds.  I mentioned that we had an e-Resource in TRAC called Heritage Quest Online. Colette reminded me: “There’s the Ancestry Library too, but they can only access it at the library.” 

Not being one to totally ignore information given so freely and from such a reliable source, I went to the Ancestry Library.  I went through the NLLS website and the e-Resources link in the left menu.  From there, in the far right column under “Genealogy / Family History Resources,” the second item is Ancestry Library.  I clicked on it and had a little fun.

First, in the search bar I typed my family name, as it would have been spelled at the time of immigration.  It actually took me to some Dutch marriage registries from the 1700’s!  I couldn’t find my parents’ immigration records, but a lot of other interesting things came up.  In ship passenger lists, the year of birth is often estimated, so it’s possible that I did find the ship my father came in on (the name is right, but the estimated d.o.b. is off by three years).  You can narrow down your search by including first names, years and place of residence.

 I tried my mother’s maiden name and found the marriage records of a number of my cousins in the US and the mailing address of two of my uncles in Ontario.  I hadn’t thought that my mother’s maiden name was that common, but I found records for a number of people with that name all throughout Canada and the US.  However, when I looked for my grandfather on passenger lists, he did not show up under any spelling variation of his name.  But now I do have a mailing address for my cousin in Jarvis, so I can send a Christmas card this year! 

The database looks through a number of resources, such as immigration records, military records, birth and death records, telephone directories, and obituaries.  The resources are not exhaustive, which could be frustrating if it were your sole resource when trying to trace your family tree.  Overall, it’s pretty hit or miss, but spend a few minutes playing around in it.  Try your own name.  I did, and I found some rather amusing results.

To promote it, you may want to make sure there’s a short cut to it on your public computers.  While in the site (using Internet Explorer, not Firefox), right click with your mouse.  This should open a menu box.  Halfway down, it should read “Create Shortcut.”  Click on it, then click “Yes” when asked if you want to make this a shortcut on your desktop.  An icon should appear on your desktop with a small sideways leaf.

Some people may click on it, just to see what it is.  You may wish to have a small sign by your computers providing information about it.  The easier it is to access, the more likely people will use it…but only if they know about it!  So talk it up!

Next Week: the TRAC iPhone App and a BlackBerry App for OverDrive