At the Library: A New Reference Homepage for Patrons

Something new has been added to the CGS computers. Designed to give welcome visitors and give them a starting place, "At the Library" is another innovation to make the technology as user-friendly as possible.

The first thing our patrons see is "Welcome To Our Library."

We are glad you are here! We will make every effort to make your visit to the California Genealogical Society Library comfortable and successful. If you have any questions or need help with equipment, please don't hesitate to ask.

Is this your first time here? If so, please ask for a tour of the library.

At the library, we offer access to subscription internet sites (to the left), the library catalog and reference indexes.

You many recall that the computers themselves are a new purchase for the library thanks to the generosity of our members.

It's the volunteer members of the CGS Computer Committee who keep hardware and software humming along and who handle any problems that may arise. The current members of the committee are Al Clark, Paul Mayer and Kathy Watson. Each Monday, one or two of them are at the library performing maintenance activities and fixing any reported problems. Paul has undertaken the effort to clean up the old computers. Al is the mainstay of the committee with the longest participation and history of the computer environment at the library.

Kathy gave me a quick tour of the "At the Library" features and she also showed me the special Desk Duty version installed on the computer at the reception desk. Calling it her brainchild, Watson informed me, "When there was talk of revamping the reference notebook for the Desk Duty Committee, I was inspired to deliver an electronic version rather than another paper version."

The reception desk version of "At the Library" is password protected and is designed to become an online procedure manual. Kathy's plan is to create a web version of everything in the CGS desk manual so volunteers will have every piece of information "at their fingertips."

Both versions of "At the Library" feature links to the CGS Library Online Catalog and to the following databases:

American Memory: California
Ancestry Library Edition
California Genealogy
Family History Archives
Family Search
Footnote.com
Historic American Newspapers
Information Wanted
Library of Congress Catalog
NewEnglandAncestors.org
Newspaper Archive
Rootsweb
S.F. Genealogy
World Vital Records
Vital Search-CA
Vital Search-World

A Tale of Ten Computers

Two short months ago the California Genealogical Society learned about an incredible price on computers from Charity Advantage, an association that offers technology solutions at low cost to non-profits. An e-mail plea went out to CGS members and friends asking for donations to purchase replacements for the society's fleet of well-used computers.

Four weeks ago ten refurbished Pentium 4 - 80GB Dell desktop computers were delivered after twenty CGS members came forward to contribute to their purchase. Two additional members pitched in to buy a new laser printer.

This week eight dedicated volunteers spent an exhausting but fruitful thirteen-hour day installing the new hardware.



Steve Harris, Peter Moller, Cathy Paris, Nick Paris and Nancy Servin met Computer Committee members Al Clark, Paul Mayer and Kathy Watson at the library at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, April 20, 2009. The group started by reviewing an installation plan prepared by Peter Moller.



By 10:30 a.m. sleeves were rolled up and the serious work began. Kathy Watson reported "There were a few glitches, but essentially by 10:00 p.m. the work was finished. Any leftover clean up items were completed on Tuesday."

So far, the reviews are positive. Kathy notes that these computers are a significant improvement over our old hardware, almost doubling the speed (from 1.83 GHz to 3.2 GHz) and doubling the memory available for using the programs loaded on the machines (from 448 mb RAM to 1 GB RAM). She also wanted me to thank everyone who participated to make the computer replacement project a huge success.

CGS President Jane Lindsey echoed her gratitude:

We are so appreciative! These computers will not only help patrons and members in the library but also our volunteer researchers, our indexers and our desk duty personnel. Faster computers will also help the hardworking members of our finance, library and membership committees do a better job for CGS.

So what is the message to other societies? Aim high and don't be afraid to ask. In the midst of a tough economic downturn the members of the California Genealogical Society and Library came together and accomplished something fairly remarkable in a short period of time. It's a testament to our members and our volunteers. Great work, CGS!

Photographs courtesy of Cathy H. Paris, 3/20/2009, Oakland, California.

CGS Computer Committee

Some of the most important volunteer work done at the California Genealogical Society is carried out behind-the-scenes by the members of the Computer Committee: Al Clark, Kathy Watson and Gary Willcuts.

In June of this year the committee conducted a survey of member volunteers to identify problems. Responses were logged and priorities set. The committee created a project work list and assigned one member to oversee each issue.

The committee's first priority is to create consistency among all the computers. The intent is to set up all of the computer desktops in the same way so that a volunteer can sit down at any computer and find things in the same place. Icons have been set up in a specific order.

Subscription and free databases are now easily accessed by clicking the "Links" button on the bottom right side of the toolbar.

"Links" opens the list of all available databases:

Ancestry
Boston Pilot Missing Friends
CGS Catalog
Customize Links
Family Search
Footnote at the California Genealogical Society
LDS DigFamHists
Lib of Congress Cats
Mid-Atlantic States Archives
NEHGS
New England Records
NewspaperARCHIVE.com
Proquest Historical Newspapers
Rootsweb
VitalSearch-CA
VitalSearch-worldwide
WorldVital Records

Other issues that are being addressed by the committee include performance, training, e-mail, back-up, new software, and setting up all computers for data entry and data access.