One of the wonderful things about the online world is the plethora of libraries now using online card catalogs (OCCs). This greatly speeds up your search while you’re at any library.

It is so easy to look in the card catalog before actually visiting the library. You know immediately whether that library owns the title. With a few more keystrokes, you can find out whether the title is on the shelf, on reserve, on loan to someone, available by interlibrary loan, or found in a nearby branch library. Then, if you want to, you can get dressed and go to the library to pick up your resource!

You can connect to most libraries, both their online card catalogs and their services, through the World Wide Web using a browser interface. In many cases, the catalog will look exactly as it does in the library itself.

But almost as exciting: You can often download certain holdings as a PDF or other digital format; you can sometimes view an image of an actual artifact and save that digital file; and best of all, sometimes, you can use the library’s online services, such as NewsBank, from your home if you have a library card with that institution.

Connecting to OCCs by Web Browser

Modern libraries use computerized card catalogs all around the world. Two sites to bookmark that will get you to most of them:

    • An important site to bookmark is WorldCat (http://www.worldcat.org/). With this site, you can create an account and save your searches and results. This way, you have a research log of sorts for your book searches. Its opening page is shown in Figure 14-1.

FIGURE 14-1. The WorldCat site helps you search many libraries and formats at one time.

    • Another important one is LibWeb (www.lib-web.org/), a directory of worldwide libraries, library catalogs, and library servers. In Figure 14-2 you can see that the site has academic, national, and public libraries in its list.

FIGURE 14-2. The LibWeb site helps you search specific catalogs from around the world.

In addition, many archives have their holdings cataloged online. You can browse these and more:

    • A2A (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a) is a searchable collection of archive catalogs in England and Wales from the eighth century to the present. Type a word or phrase into the box; you can limit the search to specific archives or to English or Welsh counties, as well as specific dates.

    • Catalogue Collectif de France (http://www.bnf.fr/pages/zNavigat/frame/version_anglaise.htm?ancre=english.htmr) will let you use one interface to query the three largest online library catalogs in France, including the printed and digitized holdings of the national Library of France, the University SUDOC (System of Documentation) of French universities, and local libraries across France. It includes books printed from 1811 to the present in more than 60 public or specialized libraries.

    • LibDex (http://www.libdex.com) is a worldwide directory of library home pages, web-based online public access catalogs (OPACs), friends of the library pages, and library e-commerce affiliate links, with a page for you to browse by country.

    • Lib-Web-Cats (http://www.librarytechnology.org/libwebcats) is a directory of libraries worldwide. While the majority of the current listings are in North America, the numbers of libraries represented in other parts of the globe are growing.

    • The European Library (http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org) searches the content of member European national libraries. This includes books, newspapers, manuscripts, and more.

Google Books

Using Google Books for family history is fun and interesting. Google Books has full text search capabilities on millions of books. It is like an international library you can use and peruse from home.

The texts of all the books can be searched. Some of these books are public domain, and you can even download them as a PDF, in Google Play, or in some cases, to a Kindle or Nook. Others are still under copyright, but the pages that have your search term may be available to look at. Then you can click Find In Library to see if it is available to borrow, or Click Get This Book to find places where you can buy it.

Let’s look at an example. Recently, I was researching Col. Guy H. Wyman. He is not a relation—he is the man who named and first surveyed Navarre, Florida, where I live. Opening www.books.google.com, there is a simple text box. Remembering the lessons from Chapter 7, the input could be as simple as GUY H.WYMAN. But to get better results, I would want to use quotation marks to search for the phrase. Because he was an officer in World War I, several government publications list him, including annual reports of his cavalry unit and a petition to the Treasurer of the United States for reimbursement for a horse. He is mentioned in the Official Bulletin of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, in the Journal of the Senate when he is promoted, and best of all, in a local history that has an entire chapter on him (see Figure 14-3). If I click Find In A Library to the left, the browser goes to WorldCat, which lists six local libraries that have this book.

FIGURE 14-3. This book has a chapter on the subject of my search. Note on the left that Google Books has links for stores to buy this book, as well as Find In A Library.

Google Books can be searched just as any card catalog can be: by subject, location, author, keyword, and so on.

Also, check out GooBooGeni (www.gooboogeni.com), a site that searches specific Google Books, such as city directories, surname genealogies, and so on. The opening page is a blog by the author, and this is a volunteer site, so updates are occasional. Still, it is a good idea.

The Library of Congress Card Catalog

The Library of Congress Online Catalog has about 14,000,000 records of books, serials, computer files, manuscripts, cartographic materials, music, sound recordings, and visual materials in one database with cross-references and scope notes. As an integrated database, the online catalog includes 3,200,000 records from an earlier database. These catalog records, primarily for books and serials cataloged between 1898 and 1980, are being edited to comply with current cataloging standards and to reflect contemporary language and usage.

Many items from the library’s special collections are accessible to users, but are not represented in this catalog. In addition, some individual items within collections (microforms, manuscripts, photographs, etc.) are not listed separately in the catalog, but are represented by collection-level catalog records. You can use the simple search on the far left, or use Boolean terms and limiters in the middle and the right.

Don’t Miss These Library Sites

Genealogy sections in libraries can be a small section or an entire floor, or even the library’s reason for existence. Here are some card catalogs to examine from home:

    • Anne Arundel County Public Library (Maryland) has the Gold Star Collection, which contains about 700 titles dealing with Maryland, including some Anne Arundel County genealogy. In their special collections are several Maryland family histories and local histories. The library catalog is located online at http://www.aacpl.net.

    • California University and State Libraries MELVYL (California) at http://www.melvyl.worldcat.org/ is a searchable catalog of library materials from the ten UC campuses, the California State Library, the California Academy of Sciences, the California Historical Society, the Center for Research Libraries, the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics Library, the Graduate Theological Union, the Hastings College of the Law Library, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Library. And every single one of those institutions has a history/genealogy section.

    • Connecticut State Library (Connecticut) has not only genealogy and local history of Connecticut, but also of the rest of New England. Their special collections include Connecticut town vital records to about 1900. The state library’s catalog can be accessed through the state library home page at http://www.ctstatelibrary.org.

    • Samford University Library (Alabama) does not have quite the scope of the Birmingham Public Library with regard to Alabama history, but because of the annual Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research held here has quite a collection of all things Alabama. The website is http://library.samford.edu/.

    • The Allen County Public Library (Indiana) at http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/has one of the best genealogical collections in the country. The link to the genealogy page gives you an overview of this wonderful treasure house. More than 50,000 volumes of compiled genealogies, microfilms of primary sources, and specialized collections, such as African American and Native American, make this library one you must see. But, like the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, you must first plan your visit, or you will be overwhelmed. Search the catalog online for the names you need to see if they have something for you!

    • The Swem Library at the College of William and Mary Library (Virginia) is one of the oldest universities in one of the oldest states, and the collection is astounding. The special collections include Virginia tax lists for the 1780s; census microfilms for Virginia (1814–1920), North Carolina (1790–1850), and other states (1790–1820); and compilations of Virginia county, marriage, land, probate, church, military, emigration, and immigration records. The library’s catalog is located at https://swem.wm.edu/research/search-catalog.

    • The Daughters of the American Revolution Library at http://www.dar.org/library has more than 160,000 books on American genealogy, and it’s open to the public. Click Online Research in the menu to search the catalog.

    • The Library of Virginia (Virginia) at http://www.lva.virginia.gov is home to a set of powerful online card catalogs. This site has scanned images of Civil War records, family bible records, letters, and other material, all indexed and searchable by name. I ran a test with “genealogy and Powell” as the search terms. If I want to refine my search further, I could also use Boolean terms, such as AND, NOT, and so on. Overall, the Library of Virginia’s card catalog is easy to understand and read—and, I might add, a pleasure to work with.

    • The New York Public Library (New York) at http://www.nypl.org/contains a genealogy section called The Milstein Division. This department collects materials documenting American history on the national, state, and local levels, as well as genealogy, heraldry, personal and family names, and flags. The card catalog is searchable at the top of every page in the site.

    • The Newberry Library (Illinois) in Chicago at http://www.newberry.org/genealogy/collections.html has more than 17,000 genealogies. Search the catalog to see if you need to make a visit!

    • The Sons of the American Revolution Library Catalog at http://library.sar.org/ can tell you if this collection has genealogies of interest to you. The SAR Library maintains a noncirculating collection of genealogy and American Revolutionary War history and military records.

    • The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Catalog (Illinois) at http://www.uiuc.libguides.com/genealogy offers an outline of the UIUC online catalog, describing its major collections, and a helpful guide to American genealogy research. Note that the university also has extensive collections of material originating outside the United States that may be helpful for genealogical research once you get “back to the boat.”

    • The Filson Historical Society Library has material on the history of the entire Ohio Valley, especially the significant stories of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley history and culture (http://filsonhistorical.org). If you have any genealogy in that area, a personal visit to the Filson is something you will never forget. The library has 50,000 titles, a 1.5-million-item manuscript collection, a collection of 50,000 photographs and prints, and a museum with 15,000 items. The library has such items as original manuscripts, portraits, landscapes, photographs and prints, genealogical materials, printed family histories, local business records, and other primary historical materials about Kentucky, the Ohio Valley, and the Upper South. Search the catalog of the Filson at http://filson.ipac.dynixasp.com.

Where to Find More Online

There are more online library resources than you can shake a stick at. Be sure to Google the geographic area you need, plus “library” and “catalog.” You are certain to get some hits! Also, search for the name of a state and “public library” because many states have a network of their libraries.

Card Catalogs

Librarians love to make lists and catalogs for each other! Try some of these:

    • Gateway to Library Catalogs (http://www.loc.gov/z3950) is a page by the Library of Congress. In addition to links to the LOC catalog, you will find an alphabetical list of catalogs around the world. Also, check out the Research and Reference Services page for librarians at http://www.loc.gov/rr.

    • The Library of Michigan website has a database with the locations of more than 3,700 Michigan cemeteries and lists sources at the library where a researcher can find the names of those buried in each. The database can be found at http://libraryofmichigan.state.mi.us/MichiganCemeteries/.

    • USGenWeb (http://www.usgenweb.com) lets you search under the state and then the county you’re researching to see if the library catalog is linked.

    • WWW LibraryDirectory (http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/libdir/) is a list more than 8,800 library websites sorted by geography, not topic. It is useful and international in scope.

Using Your Local Library Online

You can do more than just peruse the card catalog of your local and distant libraries. Find out if your local library offers online services for home use as well. Usually, the login to use these will be some combination of your local library card number and your identifier with their system (name, phone number, etc.).

Periodical Source Index on Microfiche

The PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) is a subject index to articles in genealogical periodicals and journals. Remember using the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature (RGPL) in high school for writing research papers? PERSI is the same idea, but targeted to genealogy sources. It is searchable at http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/persi. With PERSI, you can look at indexes to articles in more than 2,000 periodicals, about 50,000 articles in all.

Sample Search

In Figure 14-4, I have searched PERSI on Heritage Quest. I click Places; then I input Kentucky and keyword Jolly. The article titles, journals, and dates are listed with the result. Remember, this is not going to be a link to any actual article, but to the details on specific publications that have the articles.

FIGURE 14-4. Search PERSI for location and keyword, and results are presented most recent first.

So, I click the link for the title, getting details on the date, volume, and number. To read the actual article, I can click the title again and see whether the journal in question is held at a library near me. I can also search for the title of the journal in my local library catalog. If it is there, I can copy the call number from my local library’s catalog and find out about reading and copying the article (the journal in question may not circulate, so I may have to read it there).

An alternative is the Family History Library. Most of the periodicals in PERSI also are available at the Family History Library. Look in the Author/Title section of the Family History Library Catalog. If the periodical has been microfilmed, you can order a copy to use at a local Family History Center. However, most genealogical periodicals are under copyright and are not microfilmed.

I can also write to the publisher to get a copy of an article. Names of publishers are listed with the periodical in most library catalogs, including the Family History Library Catalog. Often, the publishers are genealogical or historical societies, and their addresses are listed in the Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada, published by the American Association for State and Local History.

America’s Genealogy Bank (NewsBank)

This resource contains more than four centuries of rare documents and records, including historical newspapers, books, pamphlets, and genealogies, as well as selected material from the American State Papers and U.S. Serial Set, the complete Social Security Death Index, and more than 29 million obituaries.

Success Story: Local History Online

Marian Pierre-Louis is a house historian and a realtor. Those two jobs combined mean that she gets to see a lot of old houses. Nothing makes her happier. Marian also regularly lectures on African-American and New England genealogy.

“My local library posted vital records from 1850–1900,” Marian said. “While it doesn’t show images, it’s a very easy-to-scan chart (transcription). I use it all the time. Actually, they have a whole portal of local history for our town! (Search Facebook for “medwaylib.org” to see the pages.)

I’ve had also great luck with Heritage Quest and Sanborn Maps through the library. My library is now offering Ancestry, too, but I have my own subscription.”

America’s Obituaries & Death Notices (NewsBank)

An easy-to-use interface allows searching by name, date range, or text, such as institutional name, social affiliation(s), geographic location(s), philanthropic activities, etc.

Ancestry Library Edition (Available Only Inside the Library)

Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) gives individuals something truly priceless: the chapters of their own authentic, unique family stories. The world’s largest online collection of family history records and resources, ALE is a popular research tool. It offers a wide variety of unique content to help users trace their family lineage.

Heritage Quest

This has digital, searchable images of U.S. federal census records with the digitized version of the popular UMI Genealogy & Local History book collection, U.S. federal census records from 1790–1930, more than 22,000 family and local history books, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant application files with records for more than 80,000 individuals, and Freedman’s Bank Records containing key African-American data.

ProQuest Obituaries

This service offers more than 10.5 million obituaries and death notices in full-image format from uninterrupted historical archives of top U.S. newspapers. With content dating as far back as 1851, this unique database provides researchers with valuable clues about their ancestors in the United States, including proper full name, maiden name, spousal information, relatives’ names, occupation, religion, cause of death, and more.

Sanborn Fire Insurance Company Maps of Florida

These maps were created for insurance purposes from 1860 through 1923. They show the size, shape, and construction of buildings; dwellings (including hotels and churches); and other structures such as bridges, docks, and barns. The maps include street names, property boundaries and lot lines, and house and block numbers.

Wrapping Up

    • Going to the library card catalog in your pajamas is fun!

    • You can search the card catalogs of many libraries across the world from the Internet.

    • Some libraries have begun scanning images and actual text of their genealogical holdings.

    • Some libraries participate in interlibrary loans of books and microfilms.

    • You can search for such libraries at several sites across the Internet.

    • State libraries and provincial libraries are excellent online resources.

    • Librarians like to maintain lists of online libraries for each other. You can use them, too!

    • Beyond the card catalog, many local libraries allow you to use databases and indexes such as PERSI and Heritage Quest from your home as well as from the library. Check with your local librarian for details!