Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It's Saturday Night again -
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to:
1) Do you have a digital genealogy library? If so, what titles are in it. If not, why not?
[Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for this suggested topic]
Here's mine:
Yes, I have a digital genealogy library. Whenever I locate a book pertinent to my family research and it is available digitally, I have downloaded a copy onto my computer. Many of these books are county histories but some may be scans of books I made at the FamilySearch Library.
Computer
Now, where I keep these digital books is another matter. I am not consistent. I might have a “books” folder under the main surname folder. Under other surname folders, I might have folders of geographical areas, and the digital books are found there.
Still, under other surname folders, I might have both. A folder for books that are general and a folder for specific locality books under the state or county research folder. I am not consistent. Sometimes, I have the book in two places! Because my hard drive is nearly full, I delete the extra copy.
I also have master folders for webinar handouts and another for institute courses. In the webinar handout folder, I have subfolders for different subjects. I like using these for reference, especially for a new topic. The institute courses can be found under the heading “classes.” There are also subfolders because the instructors often give us additional files besides the syllabus. These handouts and syllabi live on a portable hard drive, backed up to the cloud.
I also have digital files of the curriculum and handouts I have created over the years. Some get updated, some get retired.
Online
Because my hard drive has little room, I have decided to create a library of digital books at the Internet Archive. All one needs is an account and books I find then can be saved to the library. The books can be placed in categories for easy finding, too. Even books that need to be checked out can be put in the library. This saves hard drive space and puts books all together.
I could also create a digital library at HathiTrust, but I haven’t yet. To have an account at HathiTrust, you have to be a member of another member library. I have a library card from the Library of Congress, but it expires June 13, 2025. If you are an alumnus of a major university, you might have access through them. I don’t use this site as often, checking here only if I cannot locate the book at Internet Archive or Google Books.
Future
What I should do is create a list of the digital books I have downloaded and those I have saved online. I might even add the downloaded digital books to my online library for quicker access.
You have the same types of items in your digital library that I have. Internet Archive still has some possible legal issues that could bring on its demise. Get an external hard drive (or two to have a back up) and keep all your digital library files there.
ReplyDeleteI believe the items out of copyright are safe on IA, unless they run out of money to keep going due to their legal troubles. I could move the digital books to the portable hard drive, but then I wouldn't have them when I'm on the road with only the laptop.
DeleteWe all seem to have similar types of items. No big surprise there. And no big surprise that none of us has catalogued them. Maybe someone should create an app to make that easier . . . .
ReplyDelete