Wordless Wednesday

Photograph courtesy of Ron Madson, Oakland, California, 7/13/13.

Copyright © 2014 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday
Desk Duty Training at the CGS Library
Saturday, August 8, 2009

Photographs courtesy of Tim Cox, Oakland, California

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

Wordless Wednesday

Desk Duty Committee Meeting

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.

Wordless Wednesday

Desk Duty Committee Meetings
Thursday, December 11, 2008 and
Saturday, December 13, 2008

Photographs courtesy of Jane Knowles Lindsey.

Desk Duty at CGS

Captain Marston Watson leads the trusty volunteers who staff the library desk on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays when the library is open (9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays; 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays.) Officially and as a group, they are the "Desk Duty Committee" but individually they are the special volunteers who first greet our patrons and are the caretakers of the society's first impression. As you see, smiles come with the job.

Left to Right: Pat Smith, Kathy Watson, Lorna Wallace, Diana Wild,
Judy Bodycote and Dick Rees.

Besides opening for business and staffing the desk, committee members shelve books, field questions, assist patrons, answer phones and give occasional tours of the library. In addition, virtually all desk duty committee members perform other volunteer activities for the society. They are often seen multi-tasking – seeing to their other jobs when the library isn't busy. Members of the Desk Duty Committee also serve as librarians, look-up volunteers, researchers, book repairers and computer technicians. They open mail and do many other miscellaneous and essential tasks. Sometimes they actually get some of their own research done!

The current members of the Desk Duty Committee are: Judy Bodycote, Gloria Hanson, Barbara Hill, Gaye Lenahan, Mary Limosner, Dick Rees, Rick Sherman, Pat Smith, Roland Smith, Peggy Valponi, Lorna Wallace, Kathy Watson, Marston Watson and Diana Wild. Thank you all for your service to our patrons.

Photograph by Kathryn Doyle, September 22, 2008.

Wordless Wednesday

CGS Desk Duty Committee

Computer Inservice by Kathy Watson
September 22, 2008

Photographs by Kathryn Doyle, 9/22/2008.

Serendipity in the New Books Section

The California Genealogical Society is fortunate to be the recipient of many wonderful donated books to the library. In addition, thanks to the financial generosity of our members, books and media are purchased to round out the collection. New books are housed on a special book shelf so members can peruse the latest additions.

Recently, CGS volunteer Sandy Fryer decided to take advantage of some quiet time while on "desk duty" and spend some time looking through the new books section. She had one of those serendipitous genealogical moments when she opened a book and found an ancestor.

Sandy Fryer found the portrait of her ancestor, Dr. John Clarke.

Sandy had heard of the portrait of her ancestor, Dr. John Clarke of Boston, Massachusetts, but she had never seen it.

Colket, Meredith B., Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe 1607-1657. Second Revised Edition. Cleveland, Ohio, The Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, 2002.

Photographs by Kathryn M. Doyle, July 15, 2008.

Lorna's Report From the Alameda County Fair

CGS member Lorna Wallace helped staff the Alameda County Fair Genealogy Booth again this year and sent this report:

The Livermore-Amador Valley Genealogical Society (L-AGS) has sponsored a genealogy booth at the Alameda County Fair for the last few years. It is located in the large, air-conditioned (very important on hot summer days) “Technology Building”, where other computer-related attractions are going on. The booth features three computer stations with connections to several subscription databases (Ancestry, VitalRecords-CA and Footnote) for demonstrating the powerful search products that are now available. There is also a helpful handout listing many of the big, free sites, like Cyndislist.

There are two types of volunteers staffing the booth: “greeters” encourage visitors to mark their places of birth on large mounted maps of the U.S. and the world, and to fill out pedigree charts. “Researchers” then try to find an ancestors using the computer resources. Some visitors sit down at the computer and think their family history is just sitting in there, waiting to pop up on the screen. Some have been trying to use the Internet, but have not discovered basic sites such as Rootsweb or FamilySearch. Then there were those who actually brought notes so they could use their time well. Several used their cell phones to call relatives, right on the spot, to get a piece of missing information.

I think the biggest challenge for us, the volunteers, is the fact that we are presented with a whole segment of our community that are not well represented in the usual population of genealogical society membership. We come face-to-face with people from all over the world, especially Latin America and Asia, who want to know how to research their ancestry in their home county. The L-AGS is doing a good job of trying to find and provide resources.

Genealogists have so much to share. I encourage all of the members of the California Genealogical Society to volunteer next year when the Fair returns in late June of 2009.

Lorna Wallace is an active volunteer on the CGS Book Repair and Desk Duty Committees. She also handles book mailings for the society. Thanks for the report, Lorna, and for representing the society so well.

Photographs courtesy of Duncan Tanner.