Save Library of Michigan

I’ve never gotten into anything political in my postings before, but there comes a time when an issue just can’t be ignored.  Our beloved Library of Michigan is about to come to an end.  We have already lost our state Department of History, Arts and Libraries with a single penstroke from Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.  All parts of this department having to do with library matters have been moved under the Dept. of Education.  Now, the Library of Michigan – a huge building which takes up an entire city block in Lansing – is about to be stripped of all books, documents, microfilm and serials and turned into a proposed center of innovation.  It was deemed that innovation didn’t need such mundate things as library books.  As a professional genealogist, my heart is breaking at the loss of the genealogy collection- the 10th largest in the country.  We have already lost free access to the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library.  Researchers must pay a fee to walk in the room and conduct research.  Now we are about to see our other major repository of family history materials disbursed around the state and country.  Only a last minute effort on the part of our elected lawmakers can keep this from happening.  Genealogists have already staged a huge show of support for the library.  Now it’s our turn as librarians to travel to Lansing next month and make our voices heard.  We can’t just give up and watch this essential resource crumble under an executive order.  For more information, visit Michigan Libraries for the Future.

The D.A.R. and computers

Today I did my annual talk for the DAR chapter that meets here at the Library.  Bless their hearts, these mostly 60+ ladies (okay, mostly 70+) have decided it’s time to add computer searches to their genealogy passtime.  Amazingly, some of the 80+ ladies have actually been online for several years and just want to sharpen their skills a bit.  I have to really give them credit for wanting to learn new skills in order to better take part in their chosen hobby.  As a practicing genealogist for over forty years, I can’t believe the world of information that has been opened with the advent of the web – and sites like the LDS FamilySearch and Ancestry.com.  I’m never too tired or too complacent  to stop looking for new technology or new websites to further my knowledge of family history.  The D.A.R. ladies are another example of seniors taking advantage of lifelong learning.

Back to Work

We arrived back home from North Carolina last night after a thirteen-hour drive punctuated by rain, sleet, and snow from West Virginia all the way to Michigan.  Oh, the joys of Spring.  I took not one, but two notebook computers with me for our five day stay.  One was from work, so I could prepare better to teach the RSS class online for the first time this week.  That one I opened once.  The other was my personal computer with my Legacy genealogy software installed.  I had hoped to meet with one of my husband’s cousins who has been doing the family research for almost a half century.  As it turned out, she had caught a cold at the funeral of my husband’s brother-in-law and couldn’t see me.  Instead, my sister-in-law gave me a notebook with all of this cousin’s research in it.  I opened it with great anticipation and was so disappointed to find a number of incorrect dates and names.  This person is a retired librarian and I thought the information would be as accurate as I would expect of myself.  This has made me even more determined to double-check my sources and dates with each tidbit I enter into my database.  On the positive side, I took my trusty digital camera and covered four family cemeteries in the space of two days.  I can’t wait to put them on my computer and work with them, but I still have that RSS class looming large on the horizon.  Hmmmm…. I might have to wait until NEXT week to play with my photos!