If you want to start researching your family tree then the local library is a great place to find information on family history. Many libraries will even include special rooms or sections solely for the purpose of genealogical research. If your family has been part of the community in the same town for several generations, the local library could even have books that refer to your family and its history. Even if this is not the case they can provide you with newspapers and indexes to help you start on your search. All of the resources available within the one building, so this makes your job a lot easier, and most, if not all, libraries have Internet access, so you can combine these two tools to find what you need.
Before the Internet, most genealogical research was done at the local library. Just because you can get online now doesn't mean that the library isn't an important and sometimes vital starting point for your research. There are many advantages to visiting your local library (or the library in the town of your family's origin) during the beginning stages of your project, so consider this before you jump right into looking for information online.
The second benefit to using the library is that your will get help from trained professionals. Ok, so librarians aren't necessarily family history researchers. However, they are well trained in the art of helping you find information, whatever that may be. Your librarian, depending on the number of people who visit the library daily, may know not only what source you need, but also exactly how to use that source. For example, when you are looking up a specific piece of information, you might be able to find it in two different sources. Your librarian may have just been helping someone else do that same thing, and he or she will be able to show you how to use the index, since many books' indexes are completely different. Since they have experience in helping genealogists, librarians can also help point you to resources that other researchers found useful.
If nothing else, your library provides a quiet place to work. You can get online here, rather than at home where work, the phone, etc can easily distract you. Working at the library helps you stay focused, so you can get more done in a single visit to the library than you can during many days of work at home. Remember to always be respectful of others in the library who are there for similar reasons, and you should find that your trip is very beneficial.
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This post was written by Wally on September 1, 2008
