In my last two posts, I detailed my progress toward the first four goals listed below:
- I will read scholarly journals. √
- I will attend a genealogical institute. √
- I will attend one or more conferences. √
- I will participate in webinars. √
- I will continue to build my library, read books and participate in book studies.
- I will work with unfamiliar record types.
- I will keep a record my educational activities and evaluate them quarterly.
This post will look at goals five, six and seven to measure progress on those goals.
Goal 5: I will continue to build my library, read books and participate in book studies. √
I love books so I have really enjoyed this one. I have been researching our families for over 25 years, and so have accumulated some books because they seemed necessary at the time. They were generally "how-to" books, reference books, local history books and books of indexes to records.
About a year and a half ago, I posted a request to Dear Myrtle's Google+ page for anyone following to list their top five or ten general research books. The request generated several suggestions. Although I couldn't find any lists online at the time, save a few suggestions at Amazon, several bloggers have since listed their favorites. Whether they saw my original request or not, I have certainly appreciated their lists of recommended titles.
Probably the best suggestion so far has been to use the lists in "Further Study" at the end of each chapter in the book "Professional Genealogy" edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. There is also a chapter on "The Essential Library" which has suggestions for U. S. and International materials. I am now mid-way through the ProGen 25 course and can tell you that this book is an awesome resource whether or not you plan to be a professional or hobbyist.
The only caveat that I would add is that the book was published in 2001. Almost fifteen years have passed and there are some wonderful books published since then that would also be considered essential. But the book provides excellent book suggestions in every chapter that a serious genealogist, professional or amateur, should consider.
Many books are also available as ebooks. Several authors publish their books in both printed and ebook versions. Usually, the ebook version is less expensive and has the bonus of being portable on a mobile device. Books that are in public domain are often available free online in one of the many online resources, many of these can be downloaded free as well. A good list of online genealogy book resources is available here.
I wrote in an earlier blog post about how I search for books using Google Books and AbeBooks. Other free book sites can also be used including:
So how did I do on my goal? My library has grown to over 600 print books. I've got a little work to do to enter the most recent purchases in my spreadsheet. My library of ebooks needs a lot of work. I have not organized or listed them so that will be a project for the next six months.
I love reading books so the second part of the goal is a goal I easily meet. I usually have several books going at once. A few of the genealogy books I am currently reading:
I wrote in an earlier blog post about how I search for books using Google Books and AbeBooks. Other free book sites can also be used including:
- OpenLibrary
- Project Gutenberg
- FamilySearch Books
- Library of Congress
- Hahti Trust
- Your Virtual Genealogy Library
- WorldCat
My local library also allows me to check out and read books in an ebook format. These books have to be "returned" just like a traditional library book, but I am able to read the book electronically without any cost. Your local library probably has similar options.
So how did I do on my goal? My library has grown to over 600 print books. I've got a little work to do to enter the most recent purchases in my spreadsheet. My library of ebooks needs a lot of work. I have not organized or listed them so that will be a project for the next six months.
I love reading books so the second part of the goal is a goal I easily meet. I usually have several books going at once. A few of the genealogy books I am currently reading:
- Professional Genealogy
- Pioneer Girl: An Annotated Autobiography
- 15 Habits of Highly Frugal Genealogists
- Across the Deep Blue Sea: The Saga of Early Norwegian Immigrants
The last part of the goal refers to book studies. I have participated in the study of Mastering Genealogical Proof online. I also followed several other studies but viewed live (or archived) rather than an active participant. Besides watching Dear Myrtle's Mastering Genealogical Proof studies, I also viewed her GenLaw study group. There are a couple of Dear Myrtle study groups that I plan to watch as well:
One item that is not a part of my reading goal, but is something that I do on a weekly basis, is to read genealogy blogs. I have a list of about 50 blogs that I follow. Saturday mornings, I grab my coffee, launch my browser and list of blogs and peruse to my heart's content.
Overall I am very happy with my progress on Goal 5.
Goal 6: I will work with unfamiliar record types. √
I want to become more comfortable with record types that I normally don't spend a lot of time with: tax lists, wills and probate, land records, military records and so on. When I listed the skill areas I wanted to grow in, I included these record types, as well as DNA and historical law.
I have spent a few hours working in wills and probate in Richland County, Ohio, researching on the FamilySearch.org site, looking for information on the Trucks family.
More importantly, I think, is that I have spent quite a bit of time learning more about these records types. About 30% of the webinars I have attended covered one of the records types I wanted to learn more about. Many of the sessions in the conferences and institutes I attended also covered these topics.
This year has been more about the learning and less about the doing. While I haven't totally dropped my genealogy research, it's definitely taking a back seat to my genealogy education. And for now, that's OK. Next year, when I have completed my ProGen studies, I will be able to spend more time on my research. And the time that I spend will be more focused, the records that I find will be properly recorded and cited, and I will spend more time writing about my findings.
Goal 7: I will keep a record my educational activities and evaluate them quarterly.√
I am very pleased with my educational activities record-keeping strategy. The Excel workbook, with a different tab for each activity type, has helped to me not only record activities, but also to plan what areas I need to work on next.
I am not quite as happy with the evaluation part of the goal as I should have evaluated the first time in June rather than September. However, a cursory review then showed that I was making some progress in most areas.
I have spent my entire career in Pre-Kindergarten - Grade 12 public education and am a firm believer in life-long learning. Genealogy is such an awesome field as it gives one the opportunity to continuously learn in many areas: history, geography, genetics, sociology, paleography, law and so many more.
I love being able to check off progress toward my goals, so forgive me if I list them one more time!
I want to become more comfortable with record types that I normally don't spend a lot of time with: tax lists, wills and probate, land records, military records and so on. When I listed the skill areas I wanted to grow in, I included these record types, as well as DNA and historical law.
I have spent a few hours working in wills and probate in Richland County, Ohio, researching on the FamilySearch.org site, looking for information on the Trucks family.
More importantly, I think, is that I have spent quite a bit of time learning more about these records types. About 30% of the webinars I have attended covered one of the records types I wanted to learn more about. Many of the sessions in the conferences and institutes I attended also covered these topics.
This year has been more about the learning and less about the doing. While I haven't totally dropped my genealogy research, it's definitely taking a back seat to my genealogy education. And for now, that's OK. Next year, when I have completed my ProGen studies, I will be able to spend more time on my research. And the time that I spend will be more focused, the records that I find will be properly recorded and cited, and I will spend more time writing about my findings.
Goal 7: I will keep a record my educational activities and evaluate them quarterly.√
I am very pleased with my educational activities record-keeping strategy. The Excel workbook, with a different tab for each activity type, has helped to me not only record activities, but also to plan what areas I need to work on next.
I am not quite as happy with the evaluation part of the goal as I should have evaluated the first time in June rather than September. However, a cursory review then showed that I was making some progress in most areas.
I have spent my entire career in Pre-Kindergarten - Grade 12 public education and am a firm believer in life-long learning. Genealogy is such an awesome field as it gives one the opportunity to continuously learn in many areas: history, geography, genetics, sociology, paleography, law and so many more.
I love being able to check off progress toward my goals, so forgive me if I list them one more time!
- I will read scholarly journals. √
- I will attend a genealogical institute. √
- I will attend one or more conferences. √
- I will participate in webinars. √
- I will continue to build my library, read books and participate in book studies. √
- I will work with unfamiliar record types. √
- I will keep a record my educational activities and evaluate them quarterly. √
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