1. USER EXPECTATIONS OF LIBRARY GENEALOGY DATABASES v. WHAT THEY ACTUALLY GET Katherine Pennavaria & Rosemary Meszaros Western Kentucky University KLA Joint Spring Conference April 12, 2012

2. ADVERTISING “Who Do You Think You Are?” ANCESTRY.COM ad : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORmxCXmiIy4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORmxCXmiIy4 The message: It’s easy! The reality: It’s not.

3. ANCESTRY.COM PRIMARY SOURCES  passenger lists  census record forms  draft cards  links to obituaries HELPFUL TOOLS  Family tree software  Connections with other users  Educational info

4. HERITAGEQUEST  Census – US Federal Census 1790-1930 (partial)  Books – Over 28,000 Family & Local Histories  PERSI –2.3 million genealogy & history articles  Revolutionary War Era Pension  Freedman’s Bank – 1865-1874  U.S. Serial Set – Papers from the early Congresses

5. SURVEY RESULTS  Preference clearly for Ancestry.com  HQ advantages: articles, book references; will show a negative which is easier to read  HQ not available for home subscription

6. INDEXING PROBLEMS  Indexing done quickly  Indexers told to “write what they see”  Damage to pages from wear and "repair" with tape  Reversal of names in fields  Words for wife, brother, sister, son, daughter used as names  Capitals easily confused (T understood as C)  Handwriting conventions and cursive writing

7. REMEDIES FOR PROACTIVE LIBRARIANS, PART 1 1.Get ongoing training for all library staff on the limitations and benefits of A.com + HQ (must seek it out) 2.Get to know the free sites which offer similar things (EllisIsland.org and FamilySearch.org) and use different indexing 3.Make a “cheat sheet” for patrons

8. REMEDIES FOR PROACTIVE LIBRARIANS, PART 2 4. Become familiar with truncation and wildcard searching ? and * 5. Have a dedicated library staff member for genealogy

9. WHAT THEY EXPECT: it’s easy it doesn’t take long the database does the work PATRON EXPECTATIONS v. REALITY WHAT THEY GET: confusion and frustration indexing problems = time help from librarians!

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