If you’ve spent any time at all researching your family tree, you probably already know just how valuable libraries can be in helping you get to the bottom of the riddle that is your family’s history. Thanks to the Internet and tried and true “snail mail,” the information in the world’s best libraries is right at your fingertips.
How to access the best library in the world
Sounds simple, right? If your ancestors came from Tumbleweed, Nowheresville, then that town’s library is going to be invaluable for your research. In this case, size definitely doesn’t matter.
Now let’s look at how to visit the library…without ever really having to visit the library (if you know what I mean).
You can access many library sites online and look through their catalogs. (A catalog is a database of the library's holdings.). Not only can you access the catalog of your local library online, but you can also access the catalogs of many libraries around the world. Start with LibWeb (http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/), which gives you access to libraries in 125 countries.
Also remember that most libraries have an inter-library loan program, which means that you can request a book in your local library that is held many miles away, and the book will be sent to your library so that you can borrow it. Older and valuable reference books may only be available to you if you visit the library itself.
• Library of Congress Genealogy: The Local History and Genealogy Reading Room of the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/) is a great resource. You can access the catalog at this page: http://catalog.loc.gov/.
• The Allen County Public Library in Indiana: The Allen County Public Library has the second largest genealogical collection in the USA (http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/index.html).
The librarians at any library will be pleased to help you, and that includes librarians at libraries you find online. Many libraries have an "ask the librarian" service. Look on the library's home page to check whether your library offers it. Here's the “Ask a Librarian” page at a library in Florida, with links to the same service in many other libraries: http://www.askalibrarian.org/.
4 tips for writing to libraries
If the Internet fails to turn up anything, you can still go the old-fashioned route and write to the librarian at the library in question with your requests. Here are four tips on how to contact librarians and get an almost guaranteed answer:
1. Keep your request brief.
2. Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. And if you need copies of documents, enclose a donation to go toward the costs.
3. Check your letter carefully. Make sure you've spelled the names correctly, and that the dates are correct.
4. If you're trying to track down a source for information, explain how you came by the information (for example, an interview with someone in the family, an old newspaper, or a letter).
Digital Libraries; Societies Collective Memory
Human IQ in the modern carbon bi-pod brain is an interesting study. As modern humans all races are less that .5% different, yet we notice a big difference in IQ throughout the world. But even the IQ experts cannot agree on how to pin-point IQ or even which mile marker and theory to use.
Have you ever noticed that those people with the best memories tend to learn the fastest? The reason we seem to equate the intelligence of an individual to memory may actually be more correct than we think, as they have more to draw upon in reasoning and use the knowledge to help them reason.
Probably and it is a definite advantage to which few could disagree. Fore large groups of varying observation, knowledge and insight working seamlessly together have a far better range of information to come up with the best possible solution to a given problem.
By using knowledge and experience this way we can leverage this to prevent failure through understanding results. Those who do not learn from their mistakes, tend to keep from making them. Those who remember the lessons learned from their mistakes successes tend to reason better thru analyzing of their mistakes and trying to figure a way around their problems.
Now then, let me tell you why a society needs digital libraries hooked to all civilizations for faster advancement of the human species as a whole or as one. If you had a problem that needed solving for the betterment of your civilization and you had all the world’s knowledge at your finger tips; that is to say a computer hooked to a system like a World Wide Digital Library, then you would have enhanced your personal knowledge and memory by a million fold. This could help your intelligent quotient at the speed of computer and that coupled with the speed of thought is a major component needed to take mankind to the singularity of an all-knowing, never ending being in this dimension.
How to access the best library in the world
Sounds simple, right? If your ancestors came from Tumbleweed, Nowheresville, then that town’s library is going to be invaluable for your research. In this case, size definitely doesn’t matter.
Now let’s look at how to visit the library…without ever really having to visit the library (if you know what I mean).
You can access many library sites online and look through their catalogs. (A catalog is a database of the library's holdings.). Not only can you access the catalog of your local library online, but you can also access the catalogs of many libraries around the world. Start with LibWeb (http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/), which gives you access to libraries in 125 countries.
Also remember that most libraries have an inter-library loan program, which means that you can request a book in your local library that is held many miles away, and the book will be sent to your library so that you can borrow it. Older and valuable reference books may only be available to you if you visit the library itself.
• Library of Congress Genealogy: The Local History and Genealogy Reading Room of the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy/) is a great resource. You can access the catalog at this page: http://catalog.loc.gov/.
• The Allen County Public Library in Indiana: The Allen County Public Library has the second largest genealogical collection in the USA (http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/index.html).
The librarians at any library will be pleased to help you, and that includes librarians at libraries you find online. Many libraries have an "ask the librarian" service. Look on the library's home page to check whether your library offers it. Here's the “Ask a Librarian” page at a library in Florida, with links to the same service in many other libraries: http://www.askalibrarian.org/.
4 tips for writing to libraries
If the Internet fails to turn up anything, you can still go the old-fashioned route and write to the librarian at the library in question with your requests. Here are four tips on how to contact librarians and get an almost guaranteed answer:
1. Keep your request brief.
2. Enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. And if you need copies of documents, enclose a donation to go toward the costs.
3. Check your letter carefully. Make sure you've spelled the names correctly, and that the dates are correct.
4. If you're trying to track down a source for information, explain how you came by the information (for example, an interview with someone in the family, an old newspaper, or a letter).
Digital Libraries; Societies Collective Memory
Human IQ in the modern carbon bi-pod brain is an interesting study. As modern humans all races are less that .5% different, yet we notice a big difference in IQ throughout the world. But even the IQ experts cannot agree on how to pin-point IQ or even which mile marker and theory to use.
Have you ever noticed that those people with the best memories tend to learn the fastest? The reason we seem to equate the intelligence of an individual to memory may actually be more correct than we think, as they have more to draw upon in reasoning and use the knowledge to help them reason.
Probably and it is a definite advantage to which few could disagree. Fore large groups of varying observation, knowledge and insight working seamlessly together have a far better range of information to come up with the best possible solution to a given problem.
By using knowledge and experience this way we can leverage this to prevent failure through understanding results. Those who do not learn from their mistakes, tend to keep from making them. Those who remember the lessons learned from their mistakes successes tend to reason better thru analyzing of their mistakes and trying to figure a way around their problems.
Now then, let me tell you why a society needs digital libraries hooked to all civilizations for faster advancement of the human species as a whole or as one. If you had a problem that needed solving for the betterment of your civilization and you had all the world’s knowledge at your finger tips; that is to say a computer hooked to a system like a World Wide Digital Library, then you would have enhanced your personal knowledge and memory by a million fold. This could help your intelligent quotient at the speed of computer and that coupled with the speed of thought is a major component needed to take mankind to the singularity of an all-knowing, never ending being in this dimension.
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