Monday, June 21, 2010

Digital Genealogy

I suspect we all agree that doing genealogy in the 21st century requires some computer and internet knowledge and skill.
Hopefully we all agree that completing a meaningful and interesting family history also requires more than a computer and an internet connection.
The question I've been pondering lately is: What is the optimal balance between "old-fashioned" [ie, libraries, courthouses, family interviews, etc.] and digital research methods?
A corollary to the previous question is: How can SGS provide the best mix of family history research resources for our membership?
If any readers of this blog have suggestions or ideas to share, please click on the "comment" hyperlink below and let's get a conversation going.
Please share your thoughts.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Library Trustees' Proposal

For those of you who didn't make it to last Saturday's SGS Annual Meeting, I thought I'd direct your attention to the Library Trustees' proposals for our library. They prepared a 36 page report to the Board; then developed an 8-page summary for discussion at Saturday's meeting. That summary is available as a PDF file from our home page [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~waseags/ ]
The Trustees (Pat Younie, Ida McCormick, and Betty Ravenholt) have done a tremendous amount of work to develop policies for guiding collection development (acceptance, retention, disposal), creating a comprehensive library inventory and electronic catalog, and reorganizing our library "staff."
If you're interested in the future of the SGS Library, please take a look at the Trustees' proposal and provide your feedback to the SGS Board. I don't anticipate any votes on the specific proposals until the July Board meeting, when we will hopefully have a full Board, so you have another 6 weeks to submit your comments. They can be sent to SGSPresident@gmail.com, SGSSecretary@gmail.com or any other Board address [see inside Bulletin front cover].
Speaking of which....if you're interested in serving on the Board as Treasurer, Vice President, Director of Volunteers, or Director of Membership, please contact Bruce Finlayson, chair of the nominating committee, at SGSNominate@gmail.com. The committee will be forwarding names to the Board on June 23rd for appointment at our June 28th Board meeting. This is a working Board, and we need people who have open minds, a willingness to work as a team, and a desire to see SGS grow and prosper to keep the Society going. If you have some time and energy, please consider joining the SGS Board.