Introduction: Why providing family history services is a great idea -- Thinking outside the collection box -- Record it: Preserving family and community history -- Tell it: Oral history for the 21st century -- Sort it: Assessing and storing home sources -- Picture it: Gathering, analyzing and storing family photographs -- The negotiators: Asking and answering questions -- Maximizing access to family history materials -- Mining the riches -- Pooling our resources: The digital portal -- Appendix A: Annotated lists of family history titles forms -- Appendix B: The locality guide -- Appendix C: Associations related to local studies -- Appendix D: Forms.
Summary:
Here is everything you need to promote your library as a center for genealogical study by leveraging your collection to help patrons conduct research on ancestors, document family stories, and archive family heirlooms. Discusses the reference environment and offers tips for strategic planning for local studies. Includes hints of how to assess, organize, discard, or donate family heirlooms. Offers suggestions for caring for family history archives, including physical enclosures, digital copies, and the importance of data backups. Features templates for partnership agreements with other organizations.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.