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Archiver > GODFREY-LIBRARY-HELP > 2006-06 > 1149986807


From: "ron stone <>" <>
Subject: Re: [Godfrey Lib-H] Research options still remain
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2006 20:46:47 -0400 (EDT)


Margaret,
Now and then, I need to use Ancestry at our main library or my computer goes down,
I go down and reserve an hour of library computer time. (if there is any)
When it is all taken, I plan ahead and reserve an hour a few days hence.

At the appointed hour I arrive, go to my computer # and wait for the
user to finish. About 50% of the time they finish. The other variation is the slow
withdrawal, using 5 or so minutes of my time or the kid is on and has a spare
number he/she wants to try for use. Eventually I get a computer.

Often the big hairy fellow in the baglady clothes who could use a good bath is sitting
next and enjoying some great porn sites. How he got them so quick I don't know
as I'm still trying to get Ancestry to come up.

On the tables in front and back the children are having a loud conversation over what
they want to find on their computer(s). But then, these children are our future so one
ought to keep patience and try to recall who one was going to look for in the census
as Ancestry has come up at last.

Several times during the hour one's chair is bumped by the fat lady who was given
a computer number on the inside wall with no access other than thru the limited space
behind your chair and the table in back of you. I would gladly stand up if she would
wait a sec to let me, but then maybe it is a small bladder emergency trip.

Surely that aroma isn't from someone cutting across the lawn out front where the dogs
are walked .. surely not.

Why is that lady looking at me that way? Does she think it is my shoe that smells like
that?

After just a few sessions like that I begin to wonder if even free ancestry is worth it...
and then I discover something the librarian never told me...(I already knew dad hadn't
covered it all either)

...they have 3 computers on the other side that do not hook up to the internet...instead
they are dedicated SOLELY to use of Ancestry... and aren't near as busy as the ones
that can get the net for porn, my space, Martha Stewart and the like...

Now maybe I WILL go back next week.

ron in CA



-----Original Message-----
>From: MScheffler <>
>Sent: Jun 10, 2006 8:09 PM
>To:
>Subject: [Godfrey Lib-H] Research options still remain
>
> Most people can get HQ via their local library. If not keep contacting
>your local library or library system every few weeks, perhaps contact some
>local politicians. People making policies need to know what their citizens
>want. Polite advocacy may well get you access within a relatively short
>period of time.
>
> Next, one is not down to only two choices -- online access or travel.
>What has happened to using the telephone and writing letters? These are low
>tech and generally inexpensive options.
>
> In fact it was rather interesting to write letters and caused most of
>us to do more planning and thinking, when one needed to write that carefully
>worded letter and send it off to the historical society or other
>organization one was seeking help from. Then one kept checking the mail box
>for the anticipated response. Often a quick phone call first gave a contact
>name and the scope of the collection we could make the best use of the
>services offered and ask if they needed photocopy charges, etc. in advance.
>This is still a useful approach.
>
> Online does not entirely take the place of on site and library research.
>Everyone, should go to at least a few of the areas where their ancestors
>lived if possible. Even taking a few short trips to look up information,
>photograph some tombstones, gives one an entirely different perspective than
>sitting all the time in front of a computer. Files of family
>correspondence, local history material generic to the town, perhaps files of
>pictures, abstracted state census records -- these are all things that you
>will likely not see online.
>
> Using a library in person helps develop a whole different set of
>research skills. While some are disabled and can't get to the library, it
>is not my opinion that it is the older researcher who has become disabled
>that does the majority of the complaining. Most of the older researchers
>have done it the hard way and are most appreciative for the help that is now
>online.
>
> There is so much.... current online information that many of us "older"
>researchers did not have as many as 12 to 15 years ago -- the LDS database,
>the WorldConnect database, this "almost free" Godfrey site, the GenWeb
>sites and other county pages, the ability to get lookups from people who
>have access to census on Ancestry or Heritage Quest, etc....
>
> Online genealogy resources will continue to come and go, but generally
>the universe is expanding rather than contracting. Sure we are disappointed
>when our favorite sites go, but that should not keep us for looking for
>something new.
>
>Margaret Scheffler
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>==============================
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>

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