52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Week 5 – WorldCat

Week 5

Play with WorldCat.org. WorldCat is a massive network of library content that the public can search for free (user name and password not required). Not every library is a part of WorldCat, but the vast size of the network makes it an important genealogy tool. If you are looking for a specific book or publication, enter the identifying information into the WorldCat search box and see which libraries hold the item. You may even find that you can get the item through your library’s inter-library loan program. Don’t forget to search for some of your more unusual surnames and see what comes up. The goal is to play with WorldCat and examine its possibilities for your own research. If you’re already familiar with WorldCat, play with it again. The network and collection grow and change constantly. If you have a genealogy blog, write about your experiences with searching WorldCat for this exercise.

WorldCat is a catalogue of many, many libraries in the world. I’ve used it before and usually it has told me that the book I am looking for is in the State Library of NSW or the National Library of Australia. Unfortunately my genealogy society isn’t part of WorldCat, but one day that will change.

For the sake of this exercise I decided not to look for a book that I know of, but to find books that I didn’t know about. As Amy suggested, I’ve put in one of my unusual surnames – Whippy. David Whippy, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, arrived in Fiji in about 1822 and stayed there.

So I put “Whippy” in the WorldCat search, and waited. 70 results, including a dissertation about job satisfaction in Guam University. I narrowed it down by adding ‘Fiji’, and came up with 5 results, 2 of which were the same.

The most relevant item I found was a microfilm of a play written by Isobel Whippy:

The play concerns the first British Consul in Fiji, William Thomas Pritchard, who arrived in Levuka in September 1858 and was dismissed from his post in January 1863. It is based on a theory that the Consul lost his job because of a love affair with a young woman – possibly a part-European – who gave birth to two children by Pritchard, before he married her in the British Consulate in Levuka a few days afte his dismissal. The play is in two acts – the first covering the period from September 1858 to June 1859; the second from November 1859 to July 1862. There is an epilogue concerning the year 1864.

The microfilm was published by the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau in Canberra, which I happen to know is part of the Australian National University and who microfilm manuscripts related to Pacific history. The films are available in the State Library NSW, and I have accessed them there in the past.

WorldCat, however, told me that my nearest copy was at Yale University Library, New Haven, CT 06520 United States, at a distance of 10000 miles. If I selected the other, identical title, I could find it at the State Library of NSW, the National Library of Australia, and the State Library of Victoria.

There is however, a link to Related Identities, one of which was the Australian National University Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. There’s a timeline for the Bureau that goes back to 1830, which was rather startling until I realised that most of the works listed are about American whalers in the Pacific and such, and filmed by the PMB.

So the end result of my investigation is that I can almost always find what I need in the State Library of NSW, in Sydney where I live. Anything that this library doesn’t have will probably be in Canberra and probably available on inter-library loan, although I haven’t hit this situation yet.

David Whippy didn’t arrive on a whaler but the principle is the same, so I now have a list of resources I can check to find out more about the way of life and the history of Americans in the Pacific, if not about David Whippy directly. Most, if not all, available at the State Library of NSW.

Libraries Australia has  a combined catalogue of many libraries in Australia. I don’t know if all the same libraries are in both catalogues. The free version of this catalogue is within Trove.

I put Whippy in the Search field and got a whole heap of results:

As you can see, there’s a vast array of stuff which will take me some time to work through. Not all of it is relevant, but some of it is. For example, the third entry under Australian newspapers (1803-1954) is a page from the Sydney Morning Herald in January 1856 containing transcripts of correspondence about American activities in Fiji. In one of the letters, written by James Calvert, the Wesleyan missionary, Mr Whippy, my David Whippy, is mentioned a number of times as arbitrating with Mr. Calvert in a dispute between the natives and an American ship’s captain. I was then able to correct the transcription of the notoriously difficult newspaper print, and download a PDF of the page or the whole newspaper.

Further down the screen there are sections for Maps, Diaries and Letters, and Archived Websites. All sections can be opened and closed on this summary screen, or clicked on to give the full list of results.

Trove is relatively new, and having now played with it I can see it is vastly superior to WorldCat for my purposes. Australian catalogues are more likely to be useful to me in general to find a book I can borrow in an Australian library. Trove gives so much more than any library catalog that I would be unlikely to go anywhere else.

It also gave me more books than WorldCat did. On its list of 96 books, journals and magazines, etc, it gives the title Gone Native in Polynesia by Ian Christopher Campbell, a book I’ve been trying to get hold of for some time. This book has a whole chapter on David Whippy in Fiji. There are tabs for each State, and under NSW I can see that it’s available at the State Library of NSW and the University of Wollongong Library. There is also a link to show where I can buy a copy – in this case from Blackwell Online for 70 pounds or Amazon from US$79.00 to US$235.00. I won’t be buying a copy for my library, but I have a search in eBay just in case.

Isobel’s play is there, with the same results – State Library of NSW, and the reference number is given.

Really, I can’t see why I would use WorldCat on a day-to-day basis. Contributers to Trove include Project Gutenberg, so I might be able to download the book I want then and there.

52 Weeks to Better Genealogy: Week 1

Week 1

Go to your local public library branch. Make a note of the genealogy books in the collection that may help you gain research knowledge. Don’t forget to check the shelves in both the non-fiction section and the reference section. If you do not already have a library card, take the time to get one. If you have a genealogy blog, write about what you find in your library’s genealogy collection.`

I have been into Hornsby Library many times, and I have a library card, and it even has money on it for printing. Hornsby Library has a good family history section, with two microfilm readers/printers.

They don’t tend to keep up with later editions of important how-to books, and I find that my own are more up-to-date. They have a good local history collection, as you would expect.

The microfilm and microfiche collection is much more useful to me. They have a large part of the Archive Research Kit developed by the Archives Office of NSW (as it was then, now State Records NSW), which includes:

• the Early Church Records collected by the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages from the churches once civil registration was introduced
• Colonial Secretary’s Correspondence from 1788 to 1825, covered by the online index at State Records NSW
• various convict records
• the Immigration Agents’ Lists
• lists of ships arriving
• [forgive the lack of proper citations, I'm writing this from memory on the train]

They also have the Tasmanian birth, death and marriage records up to 1899 on microfilm, which always surprised me until I realised that Tasmania is the only other state that has published theirs on microfilm.

They have a good collection of local newspapers on microfilm, although not full runs.

They also have the rate books and minutes of the local council on microfilm.

I must admit that I have never investigated the resources available on the computers at the library, as I usually have my own, or have used mine at home before I get there. I can also usually find what I’m looking for on the Hornsby Library catalogue online before I arrive.

www.hornsby.nsw.gov.au

28-44 George St (entrance in Hunter Lane)
Hornsby NSW 2077
0298476813

I love my new Toshiba mini notebook!

Well, I was brave enough to take the risk! My new mini notebook is a Toshiba NB200, which arrived by courier yesterday. I broke the seal warning me that my new purchase may not function correctly and I’ve been playing with it ever since.

So far I’m just installing the software I need and downloading and installing updates, and the battery has lasted very well. The keyboard feels solid and the major keys are much the same size as on my standalone keyboard, although of course all the other keys are in different places – another keyboard to get used to. The touch pad is much the same size as on my 15in laptop.

It works well and quickly, even though I wasn’t able to upgrade the RAM to 2GB as the salesperson advised me. I’ve seen forums where a lot of people have upgraded theirs successfully, and I might consider that later when I really start using it.

I am expecting to use it when I go into the city or out to the archives, and for my birthday last year I got a mobile broadband … thingy (whatever the thing is called). My old mini is a HP 2133. The battery lasts less than 2 hours, and with Vista it’s very slow to get going – both reasons to leave it at home. If I use it on the train on the way into the city I have to take the power cable to charge it again for the ride home, especially if I actually use it while I’m in the city. I bought it too soon – at the time there was very little around, and what there was was small and made from flimsy-looking plastic.

It’s so small and convenient that I’ll probably use it around the house as well. The fate of the HP is yet to be decided.

Thanks for buying, but your new mini notebook may not work

I bought a new mini-notebook, to replace the piece of junk I bought a year and a half ago. It has just arrived, and the label stuck across the opening to the box states, in part:

You must read and follow all set-up and usage instructions in the provided manuals and Instruction Manual for Safety and Comfort. If you fail to do so, this product will not function properly and you may lose data or suffer other damage. EVEN IF YOU DO SO, TOSHIBA MAKES NO GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY THAT THIS PRODUCT WILL FUNCTION PROPERLY IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. [Upper case in original]

Thanks, Toshiba, that’s very comforting.

Compare Twitter Account Followers

I manage three Twitter accounts:

@CaroleRiley is my personal account

@NSWGenealogy is my business account

@SocAustGen is the account I manage on behalf of my genealogy society

I often wonder whether I should just post to one account because all the same people follow all three accounts. I found a way to find out if this is true.

FollowerWonk allows you to compare two, or optionally three, accounts, and compares them by followers or followees. I compared all three accounts and the results looks like this:

This screen shows the followers of all three accounts. I can see who is following all three, or combinations of two, or just the one. The Venn diagram graphically illustrates the overlap and the relative size of each following. I can do the same for the accounts that these accounts follow. Brilliant!

What I’ve discovered is how little overlap there is. So I can post to all three without fear, and I can retweet between them without too much risk of repeating myself.

Ideas for Christmas gifts for the genealogist in the family

If you are a genealogist you know that there is never enough money for all the things you need. Here is a list of possible gifts for yourself, or for the genealogist in your family. Print it out and leave it lying around…

• Books and CDs – a specific book or CD, or a voucher from a specialty store like Gould Genealogy or Archive Digital Books, or even Amazon.

• DVDs – Who Do You Think You Are and other such TV programs on family history and general history

• Furniture – such as:
  • dedicated desk for genealogy
  • bookshelves (you can never have too many!)
  • filing cabinet

• Computer hardware such as:
  • a new laptop
  • printer
  • digital camera
  • flatbed scanner – worth investing in a new one if your existing one is a few years old
  • slide and negative scanner
  • smart phone. I know a phone just needs to make calls, but what if you could put your whole family tree on it as well!
  • surge-protected power board
  • portable hard drive
  • USB flash drive

• Software - the possibilities are endless. Here are some ideas:
  • family tree program, such as The Master Genealogist
  • an add-on program for the family tree, to publish to the web, for example Second Site for The Master Genealogist
  • photo-editing
  • library catalogue
  • speech recognition
  • backup or synchronisation software

• Subscription – many possibilities here too, for example:
  • Ancestry, World Vital Records or similar, for finding records
  • GenesReunited or similar, for finding relatives
  • A membership of a family history society, for their journal or visiting rights
  • Dick Eastman’s blog (US$19.95 per year for the Plus edition), for news, reviews and tips and tricks
  • A commercial family history magazine subscription
  • A lifetime subscription to LibraryThing, the web-based book catalogue
  • Online backup such as Mozy

• Course or conference in genealogy or history. The Society of Australian Genealogists and other societies have educational opportunities throughout the year, as do historical societies. Even a voucher for accommodation would be helpful.

• DNA tests for the many branches of your family – Y-DNA for your father, your mother’s father; mitochondrial DNA for your mother, your father’s mother, etc.

• Document preservation materials – acid-free sleeves and boxes for storing photographs and documents

• Scrapbooking supplies – if you or your genealogist is that way inclined. Gould Genealogy has a good range.

• Pre-printed family tree charts. Software is all very well, but nothing beats seeing it all on one large piece of paper, even if you have to fill it in by hand.

• Research time – if you can’t get to the records, pay someone who can. Many researchers offer gift certificates for a specified number of hours, or for specific records such as probate files.

• Domain name such as mine – caroleriley.id.au – for when the family tree goes on the web. $29.95 for 2 years at Jumba.

• Hosting for a personal website. I pay $29.95 per year at Jumba to host this one. Business sites cost more, usually per month, but a private one is cheap. There are cheaper ones, even free ones, around, but I reckon you get what you pay for. Blog software such as Wordpress is also free.

• Set up a blog – if you are more technologically aware than your genealogical relative you could spend half and hour helping them set it up for them. You could also set up FTP software for them.

As I think of more things I will add them to this list. Can you think of anything I’ve left out?

Wordpress Themes – sometimes not as easy as they look

I have been trying to find a theme for my blog. I want one that displays the writing in a clear and clean manner, and …

Nearly everywhere I have read recommends the Thesis theme, but my understanding is that is is well built at the back end but you need coding skills to design the front end. I may end up going that way, because the alternatives all have problems.

I found Elegant Themes, which look very nice. It’s US$19.95 per year to use all of them, and you keep them if you don’t renew. I’ve been experimenting with one now – StudioBlue – it’s on the right. Ih shows featured posts and lists of posts by category and is very configurable. It allows ads in the top right corner, but I’ve realised that I have to insert code to put them in there, instead of just in a widget editor, so that’s out.

I also tried one called eNews which showed pictures, but it required a thumbnail to be generated for each post, as well as the code-insertion drama mentioned.

It’s not that I am unable to learn to code, I was a programmer for many years. I just don’t want to spend my time doing that. If writing a post is an extra hassle I’ll do it less often. I would be prepared to spend more to get something more user-friendly but I want to try it out before I buy it, and not find out that I have to mess with code when I’ve already paid for it.

Of course, the real reason for all this mucking around is not for this blog but for my business blog and website.

The Home Office Cat

Every home office should have a cat, and here’s why:

• The occasional need for attention allows you to get away from your desk for 5 minutes so you can let the cat out, or put food out, or whatever
• When the cat requires more personal attention, the distraction of giving the cat a rub can help your productivity when you return to duty
• Cats are good to have around, as long as they don’t want to sleep on your lap

My cats prefer to sleep on my lap, but a few minutes of having me type over their heads is enough to drive them off to find a more peaceful spot.

Cats can also be entertaining, which provides further short-term distraction. My cat Chloe has always been fascinated by printers. If she hears it going from another room she will still, after all these years, go off to watch it. She especially enjoys the new one in the picture with the document feeder. She’s only tried once to climb on top of it, which disconnected the document feeder and was too disturbing for her to try again.