Tuesday Tip: Don't Forget to Use WorldCat for Making Lists of Sources

Why didn't I think of starting this sooner?

The video "WorldCat Lists" above is from 2008, but it gives some great ideas on organizing searches on WorldCat, for genealogy or any other area of study.  What is WorldCat?:

WorldCat is the world's largest network of library-based content and services. WorldCat is a "master" catalog of library materials. It's a way for you to locate a book, video or other item of interest and discover which libraries near you own the item. Individual member libraries in your community and elsewhere provide the actual services, such as loaning you a book or providing access to online articles.
WorldCat lets you search the collections of libraries in your community and thousands of other libraries around the world.

So yesterday I set up my own free account with WorldCat, and started looking for materials relating to early Anderson County, Tennessee history.

This snapshot of my newly created WorldCat account profile gives an indication of the types of ways you can organize your lists, as well as saving searches and favorite libraries.

I've just created an account, so I didn't create a customized list yet.  I did throw a bunch of materials that relate to early records in Anderson County, Tennessee in the default list "Things to Check Out".  I'll have to make a list called Anderson County TN to make it more organized for later viewing.

You can look at the generated Citation View (I chose Chicago, naturally).

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BTW: Slightly off-topic, but many (most?) public and university libraries now have the ability for you to add lists to your account online if you are a member.  For example, I know there is a journal on Connecticut genealogy called the Connecticut Nutmegger, but it is not available online for free, but I found that the Downtown branch of my local library (San Diego Public Library) carries a run of the title in its reference section.  So I have made a list on my account called Genealogy to put the titles I am interested in looking at when I go down there next time (particularly reference).

I can click on the "Connecticut Nutmegger" to view the call number.

I may be 10 years behind on using lists to improve my searching effectiveness, but I'm getting there!  I'll eventually make it into the 21st century LOL




© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Hat Tip: Genealogy's Star Reminds You To Use the National Union Catalog and OCLC WorldCat

I was reminded once again of the importance of using the Library of Congress's National Union Catalog (NUC) and National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) for genealogy research, this time by James Tanner at Genealogy's Star.

Whether researching genealogy, or any other discipline, Tanner observes that most library patrons (in Utah, probably the greatest genealogical record hotbed in the world, no less!) tend to use electronic records almost exclusively, and "ignore the vast resources in the books surrounding them."  Sadly, I'm guilty of this myself.

He makes a great point:

One symptom of this lack of awareness of genealogical resources is the surprise I get from those who attend my classes when I mention the OCLC WorldCat.org online catalog. The WorldCat.org is the world's largest library catalog. This lack of awareness of the WorldCat.org catalog is strange since the FamilySearch.org Catalog now links almost every entry to the WorldCat.org catalog.

If you want to up your genealogy research game, I suggest you check out his post.






© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.