Monday, January 04, 2010

Library Research


Library Research
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel
52 Weeks to Better Genealogy [Week #1] The Library

Going to the library has been a huge part of my life. This is a photo of me taken at my local library, Bridgewater Public Library, in Bridgewater, MA where I have spent a lot of hours doing research and reading in order to be able to write the books I have been authoring for teachers. This photo was taken by a librarian several years ago while I was researching for the books in the Daily Celebrations duo series.

The library, like many others in Massachusetts has fallen on hard times and we can no longer borrow books from the inter-library loan. I found that to be a wonderful resource for my genealogical work as these books are expensive to purchase. There are many titles in our non-fiction section that I can still borrow locally and have enjoyed working with.. It has been my best kept secret to successful genealogy professional development.

I would estimate that I have read over 100 genealogy books that were library books. I have met authors Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, Marcia Melynk and Maureen Taylor after borrowing their books from the library. That is so much fun. I am a bit star-struck still.

We have a climate controlled historical room where books of historical significance are housed. Many of the genealogical and historical records for the Bridgewaters and the local cemeteries are in these books. No one has renewed the copyright on some of these titles and now the are available on the Web for free.

I will blog about one of these long dead local authors this week for Tombstone Tuesday.

I have also been to the wonderful library in Plymouth owned by the Mayflower Society. I was treated like a rock star when I gave my name at the desk. That was the first time I felt like a "real" genealogist and it was a bit scary.

3 comments:

Amy Coffin said...

Thanks for playing along with the genealogy challenge. That's too bacd that inter-library loan is no longer available to you. It's such a good resource.

Midge Frazel said...

Yes, I miss it a great deal. Not having new materials in our libraries forces people to think "it's all on the Web" anyway. I wonder what our students think.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the Mayflower Library in Plymouth.

Growing up with the library in Bridgewater - I went there practically every day after school - it made it that much harder to see its hours and services cut so drastically when I last visited. Their genealogy/history room is fabulous!