UpFront with NGS: October 2017

27 October 2017

GenealogyBank – FREE eBooks on Select Research Topics

GenealogyBank – FREE eBooks on Select Research Topics

I love newspapers! They bring so much color to the research I do as well as sometimes provide me with “evidence” that might not be found elsewhere.

I associate GenealogyBank with newspapers. That is a happy association.

Though GenealogyBank is a subscription service, to get you “hooked” on how valuable newspapers can be to your research (really not too much effort needed to get us interested and we all have a budget we have to work to!), they also have produced some eBooks that look at various ways that newspapers might help you with your research.

· Tearing Down Your Brick Walls – Removing Roadblocks in Genealogy Research

· Birth Announcements: Published in Newspapers – A Valuable Genealogy Resource

· Marriage Records Found in Newspapers: Engagement, Marriage, Anniversary and Divorce Records

· Historical Advertising: Missing, For Sale, Wanted & More – Gain Insights Into Your Ancestors’ Lives

It makes me wish I was Thomas Jay Kemp, the author of these eBooks so I could write about the juicy finds contained in newspapers!

What other subscription databases/services also have some FREE resources to benefit family historians?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to [email protected]. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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25 October 2017

Did You Know That You Can Borrow Books From Internet Archive?

Did You Know That You Can Borrow Books From Internet Archive?

I didn’t. That is until I came across the book mentioned in the image to the left and spotted the words “Borrow This Book.”

Internet Archive

With those three words, I learned that you can “borrow” books for 14 days from the Internet Archive via its Books to Borrow page. In order to do this you must be registered with Internet Archive. Here is a FAQs page on how you can borrow from the lending library.

Looking at my own account, it appears that you can currently have 5 books on loan at a time. You can access the books online or download in PDF/ePub format. When you are done, you can “return” the book.

JSTOR

This is one of my go-to websites for certain types of periodical publications. For free you can borrow up to 3 publications for 14 days each or for fees, you can borrow more.

Read move this site via JSTOR … incredible resource – are you taking advantage?

Do note that with JSTOR, any loaned publication has to be on your shelf for 14 days before it can be returned!

Additionally, it’s possible to borrow books via digital offerings from your local or regional library. I do 14-day loans of fiction books using this feature of my local library.

What other online platforms will “loan” books to individuals?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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23 October 2017

It’s Never Too Early to Consider Writing About Your Research and Submitting it to a Contest

It’s Never Too Early to Consider Writing About Your Research and Submitting it to a Contest

Sharing our research with others, whether families or the broader community is very important. Why put in all that hard research effort to let what you’ve done gather dust?!?! By sharing our research, everyone benefits whether directly or indirectly related to you – either through family connections, education about records and strategies, or more.

Consider entering one of these competitions. Many have deadlines coming up!

NGS

NGS sponsors a few contests based on family history research and writing. The deadline for submissions is 15 December 2017.

1. The Family History Writing Context

2. Award for Excellence: Genealogy & Family History Book

3. NGS Newsletter Competition

ISFHWE

We recently announced the 2017 winners of the ISFHWE Excellence-in-Writing Competition. Since 1 October 2017, entries are being accepted for the 2018 edition.

This gives you family history writers plenty of time to make submissions in any of the 6 available categories:

· Category 1 – Published Columns

· Category 2 – Published Articles

· Category 3 – Genealogy Newsletters

· Category 4 – Unpublished Material by Unpublished Authors

· Category 5 – Unpublished Material by Published Authors

· Category 6 – Poetry and Music Lyrics

All the important details are found here.

Consider submitting on behalf of your own writing or on behalf of what you consider a particularly stellar genealogy newsletter.

Ohio Genealogical Society

The Ohio Genealogical Society sponsors a Writing Competition and awards prizes! Entries are accepted from 1 September through 31 December 2017.

Rules and style guide available here.

Chicago Genealogical Society Writing Contest

A contest designed to encourage those with a Chicago connection in their family history to share their genealogical research in narrative format.

Entries are accepted 1 April – 31 December 2017 and details can be found here.

Western Michigan Genealogical Society 2018 Writing Contest

This year’s theme is Family Tradition …

Traditions often enrich and strengthen family bonds and create fond memories. Whether they are stories, activities, or beliefs handed down from generation to generation, it’s important to preserve your family traditions for future generations. WMGS encourages you to write about one of your family’s traditions. They may occur daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, and revolve around military, holidays, or her special occasions. Some may be humorous or unusual.

Entries are accepted 1 January – 15 March 2018. Full details are here.

MASSOG Writing Contest

The Massachusetts Society of Genealogists, Inc. (MASSOG) holds a writing contest. For the first time, in 2018, the competition will be open to non-members who pay a submission fee.

Deadline for submissions is 1 August 2018. Full details are here.

Which competition will you be entering?

What other genealogy writing-related competitions do you know of?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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20 October 2017

Speaking of the Internet Archive – Claims Libraries Can Sometimes Legally Scan and Make Available Materials Published 1923-1941

Speaking of the Internet Archive – Claims Libraries Can Sometimes Legally Scan and Make Available Materials Published 1923-1941

Yesterday the topic was a collaboration between OCLC and the Internet Archive and today it’s news from the latter about a provision in US copyright law that permits library to extend what they digitize up to 1941 provided that the material is not being actively sold.

Dick Eastman (The Daily Online Genealogy Newsletter) shared this news via his piece The Internet Archive Now Claims that Libraries may Legally Scan, Digitize, and Republish Books from 1923 to 1941.

You can read the original post from Internet Archive via Books from 1923 to 1941 Now Liberated! The comments made are an interesting read also.

Today we announce the “Sonny Bono Memorial Collection” containing the first books to be liberated. Anyone can download, read, and enjoy these works that have been long out of print. We will add another 10,000 books and other works in the near future.

You can also read a discussion of the legal basis on which this is premised via, Elizabeth Townsend Gard, Tulane University Law School, Creating a Last Twenty (L20) Collection: Implementing Section 108(H) in Libraries, Archives and Museum.

This ONLY applies to libraries and it ONLY applies to books that are NOT actively being sold.

This could greatly expand our access to all kinds of materials beneficial to our genealogy research.

What book containing genealogically relevant material published 1923-1941 and that is no longer sold would you like to see digitized?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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18 October 2017

OCLC and Internet Archive Collaborating

OCLC and Internet Archive Collaborating

There is some great news from OCLC and Internet Archive.

Before the news, just a reminder that these are two wonderful resources as they stand. The news will just strengthen both. Some quick context -- I equate OCLC with WorldCat.org (a massive world-wide library catalog) and Internet Archive with both itself as an enormous archive of digitized materials and with Wayback Machine as a great resource for when websites have the nerve to disappear.

Here is the news …

OCLC and Internet Archive are working together to make the Archive's collection of 2.5 million digitized books easier to find and access online and through local libraries.

OCLC will process metadata from the Internet Archive for its digital collection, matching to existing records in WorldCat, the world's most comprehensive database of information about library collections, or adding a new record if one does not exist. The WorldCat record will include a link leading back to the Archive.org record. From there, searchers can examine or potentially borrow the related digital item.

Internet Archive will also add a link from its records to WorldCat.org, the online resource that makes it possible for searchers to quickly and easily find and access resources in libraries nearby--and worldwide…

Read the full announcement here.

This collaboration will make the materials held by each just that much easier to find across both platforms. A definite plus for researchers.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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16 October 2017

Reclaim the Records -- New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016, Now Available for FREE!

Reclaim the Records -- New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016, Now Available for FREE!

From our friends at Reclaim the Records …

Introducing the NEW JERSEY MARRIAGE INDEX, 1901-2016! These records are now totally digital, and totally free -- forever! Now you can research anyone who got married in the Garden State right from your home, still in your pajamas.

We've posted these images at our favorite online library, the Internet Archive (archive.org). You can skip right to any year you want and flip through all the images, or you can download the records to your hard drive as JPG's, PDF's, and/or other formats. Each file is listed year-by-year (or occasionally by a year range), and then the marriages are listed alphabetically by surname.

Just to be clear: these are images of the index, so this isn't a real text-searchable marriage database just yet. But rest assured that the usual genealogy websites we all know are going to start indexing projects and will make that happen eventually. (Yes, the Internet Archive does run automatic OCR on the text contained in the images, but the recognition quality isn't that great, so you're probably better off just reading through the images instead of trying to text-search.) …

As someone who has periodically done research into the records of NJ, I wholeheartedly say thanks for making these records available!

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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13 October 2017

FamilySearch 2017 Worldwide Indexing Event (20-22 October 2017)

FamilySearch 2017 Worldwide Indexing Event (20-22 October 2017)

As they have for the past few years, FamilySearch will be hosting a worldwide indexing event …

Here are some details.

When: October 20–22, 2017.

What: As in years past, the purpose of the event will be to unite the international indexing community around the common goal of making more historical records searchable online for free. Last year’s event broke the previous records with more than 100,000 indexers helping to index over 10,000,000 records.

Spread the Word: Flyers and posters are available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian.

· English

· Español

· Français

· Deutsch

· Italiano

· Português

· Русский

The Records: To prepare for this event, FamilySearch is working hard to make more records available to be indexed. By the time the event comes around, there will be records available from many countries around the world and in many languages. There will be records appropriate for every experience level—from beginner to advanced—so that all can feel the joy of participating. The goal is to make this event accessible to as many people as possible and to end the event with new records accessible to people looking for their family from around the globe.

FamilySearch has made many records available via its acquisition and digitization projects. Many of the digitized records are viewable and not yet accessible to many as they are not indexed. This event helps increase access to these records via linking index terms to them!

It does take a community to make this event a success.

Will you be participating? What records would you like to index and/or see indexed?

Editor’s Note: Check out past Upfront with NGS articles on FamilySearch here.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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