Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Genealogy News - Monthly Edition (December 2010)

Catch up on the top stories mentioned in The Genealogy News service throughout the month by reading the Monthly Edition! Visit our News Center at http://news.genealogytoday.com/ to download the PDF for December 2010.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Genealogy Resolution: Improved Access to Resources

Depending on the size of an individual document, the time from acquisition to being posted online can vary greatly. Some items arrive and are posted the following week. Others take months, or longer, to complete the journey.

In 2011, we have resolved to make the resources that get scanned and transcribed into the Genealogy Today Subscription Data collection accessible earlier in the process. As the first step towards achieving this resolution, effective today, premium members (i.e. paid subscribers) now have access to two new features in a section labeled "Premium Member Services" on their Team Roots start page.

The first feature, PRE-Release Items, allows members to search individual documents as soon as they are indexed. While our goal is to upload completed items every Sunday, periodically that's not feasible, so some items may be queued for several weeks. Members will now be able to search these documents BEFORE they are uploaded into the database and cataloged into Live Roots.

The second new feature, Scanned Item Queue, lets members browse the collection of items that are in the "pipeline" but have not yet been indexed. We will be adding two options on the document pages to allow members to request lookups from an item, and/or let us know they are very interested in an item (i.e. we should accelerate getting it indexed).

In an upcoming update to the Live Roots catalog (Resource search on Genealogy Today), the items in both of these categories will be included; reducing the need to browse the lists separately. While the items will be added to the Live Roots catalog, only premium members will be able to preview search and/or request lookups.

Additional premium member services are under development.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Finding the Original Document in a Library

In an effort to make it easier for genealogists to track down a copy of the documents used by Genealogy Today in our databases, links to WorldCat.org will be included throughout the site.

As new resources are cataloged, we will attempt to locate an OCLC number and, if found, a link will added to the resource pages in both our Free Genealogy Data and Subscription Data areas. Look for "Find a copy of this resource in a library" links after the surname listings. Periodically, we will attempt to establish these links for resources that have already been transcribed.

For an example, visit the New Orleans Chess, Checkers and Whist Club 1882 Members page.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Genealogy Year

It's Sunday, which means new data has been posted at Genealogy Today. Kicking off the 2011 genealogy year is a set of 205 World War II Ration Book images. This collection is free, and searchable from both GenealogyToday.com and LiveRoots.com web sites.

Also, uploaded into the Genealogy Today Subscription Data collection: six original documents; including three manuals from the First Presbyterian Church of Scranton, Pa. Over 3,000 names with some unusual surnames that I've never come across before!

We added over 180,000 names in 2010, along with over 4,000 images, and are hoping to publish even more in 2011... best wishes to all of our genealogy friends and supporters for a HAPPY, HEALTHY and GENEALOGICALLY SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR!