Latest Events

• Tour of the Bernard E. Witkin Alameda County Law Library with Mark Estes, March 10
• BayNet 2010 Annual Meeting with Author Siva Vaidhyanathan, May 21

Latest Q & A

• Librarian Susan Geiger and Moreau Catholic High School
• Lauren John of the Town and Country Club in San Francisco
• Heidi Goldstein and Ex’pression College for Digital Arts
• Deborah Hunt and Information Edge
• Sharon Miller and the Mechanics’ Institute
• See more Q & A.

WHEN: Tuesday Oct 20, 2009, 5:30-8:30
WHERE: Golden Gate University, 536 Mission St. (between 1st and 2nd), San Francisco. The panel discussion will be held in the University Library, room 1373. The University library is on the 1st (street level) floor, immediately to the right as you walk in the building.

This event came about as a result of the discussion that took place at a similar panel discussion last March about implementing Web 2.0 technologies in libraries. Many at that event expressed an interest in exploring the pros and cons as well as any measurable efficacy of tag clouds in the library’s online catalog. As a result of discussions with a panelist planned for this event, Roy Tennant, we have expanded the scope of the event to include all other kinds of user-contributed content in library catalogs.

Each panelist will give a 10 minute presentation. After each presentation and at the end there will be a Q&A session with the audience.

5:30 P.M. — Meet and mix (sandwiches and refreshments will be served)
6:00 P.M. — Introducing the panelists
6:15 – 8:00 P.M. — Presentations, Q&A and more Q&A

Moderator:
Steven Dunlap — Head of Technical Services, University Library, Golden Gate University.

Panelists:
Ann Sperske — Teacher Librarian Vintage High School , Napa, CA.
Ann works with high school students to use web tools effectively. http://www.vhs.nvusd.k12.ca.us/vhs_library.html

Roy Tennant (of OCLC and other adventures) — Senior Program Officer, OCLC.
Roy is also the owner of the Web4Lib and XML4Lib electronic discussions, and the creator and editor of Current Cites, a current awareness newsletter published every month since 1990. http://roytennant.com/professional.html

Rice Majors —  Product manager for Encore the OPAC discovery layer by Innovative Interfaces Inc.

Cathy Marshall — Senior researcher at Microsoft Research’s Silicon Valley laboratory and an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries at Texas A&M University. She was a long-time member of the research staff at Xerox PARC and has written a soon-to-be-released book, Reading and Writing the Electronic Book. She wrote an article about tags and maintains a blog about her ongoing work.

BAYNET speaks with Jane Knowles Lindsey, the president of CGS, about their services.

Genealogical Society and Library

When is a good time to start thinking about using CGS? People become interested in genealogy for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s because of an elementary school project, a question about family medical history or just plain curiosity – we think any reason at anytime is the right time to get started! Unfortunately, many people start exploring their family roots after the the death of a parent or grandparent. Our oldest family members are a wonderful source of information so it’s best to ask family questions while we still can.

What is involved in researching your roots? Genealogy can be exacting – based on sound research principles with careful recording and analysis of source documents. Or it can be informal, such as a collection of family stories. Either way, the best place to start the search is at home – talk to relatives, raid the attic, read through the family papers. Take a beginning genealogy class like the one offered free at CGS on the first Saturday of every month.

If my ancestors were from outside California, how can CGS help me? The number one strength of the California Genealogical Society and Library is our active, generous and extremely talented membership. Genealogy involves a lot of detective work so it helps to have help. Many of our members, including me, do not have California ancestors but we learn so much from each other. And not everyone understands our passion for “dead people” so it’s nice to have a safe place where our hobby is appreciated!

What is one thing CGSL offers that newcomers most appreciate? Our member volunteers have donated thousands of hours indexing and abstracting records held by the society and creating the California Names Index – a free, searchable database at our website. Currently, there are more than 290,000 names in the index from state, county, and local references. It is an ongoing project and names are added regularly.

What other kinds of information that CGS offers that most users don’t realize? California is the major focus of the CGS library holdings, with special emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area, but because we were founded in 1898 by New Englanders we also have significant material for the New England states. CGS has titles representing all 50 states and we are particularly strong in Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

What are the Wordless Wednesdays? Wordless Wednesdays are a device so bloggers can take a day off from writing and run a photograph instead. It’s a great way for the California Genealogical Society and Library blog to showcase the members of the society and their many activities.

Tell us about the most exciting results found via research at CGS. We did some research for the California State Military Museum about Medal of Honor winner, Harold Roberts, for whom Camp Roberts was named. Our members found a long-forgotten letter that Roberts wrote to his father during WWI just before his death. It became his last will and testament, was challenged by family members and led to charges of forgery and a fight for the money that was splashed across the pages of San Francisco newspapers.

What was the most memorable experience you had at CGS? In March we hosted a Scots-Irish Research Seminar with a speaker from Belfast. I learned that he had cousins in the Bay Area but that the families had lost contact with each other. In just the few days he was here I was able to find his first cousins once removed and they were able to meet. He came half-way across the world to help us find our Irish roots and I ended up helping him find his living family. Now that was rewarding!

How can we, as librarians and information professionals, help CGS? Help us spread the word about our great genealogical library in Uptown Oakland near the 19th Street BART station. We have 30,000 books and an all-volunteer staff with diverse ancestry who love to help people with research. We open our library at no charge to the public on the first Saturday of every month.