Crash Course in Genealogy

Book excerpt: A basic, how-to book written primarily to prepare librarians to assist genealogy researchers, this guide can also be used by those who wish to discover and document their family histories. There has been an explosion of interest in genealogy recently, with popular series running on PBS (Faces of America), NBC (Who Do You Think You Are?) and BYU-TV (The Generations Project). Even Lisa Simpson did a genealogy project for school. Part of the popular Crash Course series, Crash Course in Genealogy will help librarians feel more comfortable as they work with the increasing number of patrons looking for assistance in researching their family trees. Beginning with library genealogical services policies, the guide moves on to cover genealogical research principles and most-used sources. It also illustrates how one can perform a search backward in time through American family history. The book includes information on researching people of color, taking research to another country, and adding DNA information to genealogical research. Examples from the author's decades-long experience as a genealogist enrich the text, while illustrations of census records and the like help readers understand the research process.