{"id":31071,"date":"2018-05-07T10:56:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T14:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=31071"},"modified":"2021-04-22T13:40:48","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T17:40:48","slug":"genealogy-101-family-history-research-at-the-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-101-family-history-research-at-the-library.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy 101: Family History Research at the Library"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>Introduction<\/em><\/strong><em>: In this article \u2013 part of an ongoing \u201cIntroduction to Genealogy\u201d series \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for doing family history research at the library. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201c<span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=CXaFyHM7znQC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=From+the+Family+Kitchen.&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Jo6tQVuF3D&amp;sig=nkmxReyZmS2srUIWT3eYF3SS4GU&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=bPoPUK2EIY2E8ATjwICwBA&amp;ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q=From%20the%20Family%20Kitchen.&amp;f=false\">From the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Been to the library lately for your family history research? Are you a frequent visitor to your local library, or has it been a few years? Maybe you are planning a vacation around researching at a large city or university library. If it has been a while since your last visit to a library, I want to encourage you to take some time now to prepare for your next trip.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_31075\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-31075\" style=\"width: 738px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/photo-0507-2018-carnegie-library.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31075\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/photo-0507-2018-carnegie-library.png\" alt=\"Photo: Carnegie Library, San Antonio, Texas, c. 1900-1924\" width=\"738\" height=\"455\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/photo-0507-2018-carnegie-library.png 738w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/photo-0507-2018-carnegie-library-300x185.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-31075\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Carnegie Library, San Antonio, Texas, c. 1900-1924. Credit: The University of Houston Digital Library; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>What Library Will You Go To?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Remember that there is more to library research than your local public library. When you think of what libraries might have what you need for your genealogy, think in terms of the public or academic library that serves your ancestor\u2019s hometown, as well as state and national libraries, genealogy libraries, and private libraries.<\/p>\n<p>Genealogy libraries include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FamilySearch<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www2.houstonlibrary.org\/clayton\/\">Clayton Library<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.godfrey.org\/newtogml.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Godfrey Library<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.genealogycenter.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Allen County Public Library\u2019s Genealogy Center<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mymcpl.org\/genealogy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Midwest Genealogy Center<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, you should also visit your own local libraries to access books, interlibrary loan, and online databases.<\/p>\n<p><strong>First Up: The Card Catalog<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As you plan your trip, take a look at the library\u2019s online card catalog. What resources does the library have that could benefit your research? We often think of a library in terms of what can be checked out, but as a researcher you need to consider what reference items are available. In some cases, the books found in the genealogy collection of the library may be for reference use only and cannot be loaned out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Special Collections<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What collections, besides the books found in the stacks, does that library have? Do they have a local history collection? Rare books? Maybe they specialize in a specific historical era. For example, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.akspl.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AK Smiley Public Library<\/a> in Redlands, California, which houses the Lincoln Shrine, has a large collection of Abraham Lincoln and Civil War resources. Does the library you are going to have a local history collection or any special collections?<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s Online?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It may seem weird to travel somewhere just to see what they have online, but in the case of a larger library, you may find that they subscribe to specific subscription websites that you otherwise would not have access to. Think beyond genealogy; these websites might include newspapers, periodicals, and history books.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If You\u2019re Traveling, Make a Call First<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Going to your local library and learning they don\u2019t have what you need, or they are closed, wouldn\u2019t be a big problem \u2013 but travel several hours by car or plane only to find the same thing would be frustrating to say the least. Do yourself a favor and call or email prior to your visit. Make sure that the library will be open and that any special collection you are interested in is available for research.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, a special collection may only be available with several days\u2019 notice or by appointment. On one research trip to access a special collection at a state university, I was surprised to learn I needed two forms of ID and that my high school-aged son couldn\u2019t research with me because he was not yet 18 years old. These are important facts I would have known if I\u2019d been more diligent about reading the library\u2019s website when I prepared for my visit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where Are You Going?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Libraries are an important resource for genealogists, so it\u2019s important to make sure that you exhaust their resources when you research your ancestor\u2019s life. But first, make a plan before your visit so that you can make the most of your time and limit disappointments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Article:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/genealogy-101-11-planning-a-trip-to-the-library.html\">Genealogy 101: #11 Planning a Trip to the Library<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for doing family history research at the library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[12,2719,20],"class_list":["post-31071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-genealogy","tag-genealogy-search-tips","tag-libraries"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/photo-1018-2016-featured-graphic-classroom-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31071"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77653,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31071\/revisions\/77653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}