GRS Update News 2010 |
UPDATE is published bimonthly by the Palm Beach County Library
System, Government Research Service at 3650 Summit
Boulevard, West Palm Beach, FL 33406, as a guide to
information resources available for use by county agencies
and the public. Palm Beach County staff wishing to receive a
copy of the newsletter, please contact Government Research Service.
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November/December |
September/October |
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GRS Research Services Continue During Library Renovation |
Library Delivers Documents to Government Staff |
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Tutorial Videos Added to Library System Web Pages |
Library Assists with SSA ‘Retire Online’ Service |
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July/August |
May/June |
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Exploring the Past Using the Florida Digital Newspaper Library |
Library
Archives ICMA Government Resources |
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GPO’s ‘Federal Digital System (FDsys) Access & Services |
New Age of ‘E-Genealogy’ Arrives at Your Library |
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March/April |
January/February |
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PBC
Genealogical Society Upgrades Web Site |
Using Google’s News Archive for Research Projects |
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Library Web Page Links Obituary and Cemetery Sites |
County Library Archives Glades Community Newspapers |
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November/December
GRS Research Services Continue During Library Renovation
The Palm Beach County Library System will
continue to offer a full range of government document delivery
and genealogical research services while the Main Library
building undergoes structural renovations. The Main Library
closed in September and will reopen with interior design
improvements by the early summer of 2011.
Government Research Service
(GRS), Serials Department, Inter-Library Loan, Community
Relations and Information Technology staff will continue to
provide their specialized services from the lower level of the
Main Library. Other public service staff is reassigned to work
at branch library locations during the renovation period.
GRS section staff is
available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays by
phone (233-2777 or 233-2600) to answer local government and
genealogy requests using the library’s database and electronic
serial collections. As always, government clients and the
public may submit information requests 24/7 by e-mail at:
grs@pbclibrary.org , or by using the E-Reference Q&A forms
at
http://www.pbclibrary.org/contact.htm
The Library System’s popular
“E-Government Help” and “Genealogy Research: the
Next Generation” programs will continue to be offered by
GRS staff at branch library locations. See future editions of
the Library System’s “Happenings Calendar of Events”
for program dates.
The GRS section also will
continue to maintain and update information links on the
“Government Research,” “Legal Research” and “Genealogy
Research” web sites during the Main Library renovation. Online
Access:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs.htm .
Tutorial Videos Added to Library System Web Pages
Instructional tutorial
videos are now linked to several Palm Beach County Library
System web pages to assist the public in using electronic
E-government and family history information resources and
databases.
The “Genealogy Research” web site features a
You Tube “three-minute tour” video about how to search for
family history information using the “Ancestry Library
Edition” database offered for public use at 15 branch
library locations. The LDS Family Search “Research Classes
Online” also is linked to the “Genealogy Research” web site on
its Internet resources menu. Online access:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/genealogy.htm .
Gale’s “Florida Legal Forms” database
is supplemented with a new Guided Tour tutorial to assist
legal researchers in locating and downloading documents. The
service is located on the Library’s “Legal Research” site.
Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/legal.htm .
Other tutorial videos linked to Library System
information sites include:
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September/August
Library Delivers Documents to Government Staff
One of the important services provided by the
Government Research Service (GRS) section of the Palm Beach
County Library System is document delivery to local public
sector agencies and staff.
Document delivery consists of the provision of
requested news articles, reports and government publications
either archived in print or digital format at the Main Library
or obtained through affiliated E-government information
providers such as the Alliance for Innovation, International
City-County Management Association (ICMA) or the Index of
Current Urban Documents (ICUD).
In 2003, the first year the GRS section began
using document delivery as a service benchmark, a total of 376
documents were forwarded to government clients, primarily
through inter-office mail or fax transmission. However, in the
past seven years, electronic E-government applications in
document transmission, such as e-mail PDF files, have greatly
improved both the delivery time and the efficiency of this
service.
The total distribution of documents to
government staff increased to 1,223 in 2009. The projected
fiscal year 2010 total will be about 10 percent higher than
last year. The use of document scanning hardware by GRS staff,
together with federal mandates to make government publications
available in digital format, are two factors contributing to
the future success of this service.
As a service to the public, the GRS section
also has indexed and linked useful local, state and federal
documents sources to the Library System’s “Government
Research” web site. Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs.htm . Additional information
about GRS section services are found at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-about.htm .
Library Assists with SSA ‘Retire Online’ Service
The Palm Beach County
Library System is partnering with the Social Security
Administration (SSA) and libraries across the country in a
joint effort to make the public aware of an important new
electronic “E-government” initiative to assist citizens in
filing for retirement benefits.
“Retire Online, It’s So
Easy!” is a Social Security campaign designed to promote
a new online retirement application that can be completed via
home or library computer in as little as 15 minutes. Direct
access to the application is featured on the SSA web site at
http://www.socialsecurity.gov. An informational brochure
about the “Retire Online” service may be viewed at
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10522.pdf.
The Library System has added
the digital SSA “Retire Online” application as a menu option
on its special “E-Government Forms” web page – a digital index
with links to local, state and federal government online
services. Our “E-Government Forms” site is accessible at
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-e-governmentforms.htm.
The Library System’s
Government Research Service (GRS) section staff will
demonstrate how to access and use the new digital Social
Security form during its monthly “E-Government Help”
computer classes held in the Main Library Computer Center.
More information:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-egovthelp.htm. |
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July/August
Exploring the Past Using the Florida Digital Newspaper Library
The “Florida Digital Newspaper Library,” a
service of the University of Florida Libraries Digital Library
Center, is now indexed and featured as an information source
on the Palm Beach County Library System’s “Genealogy Research”
web site.
The “Florida Digital
Newspaper Library” offers both a statewide microfilm index of
historic newspaper holdings listed by location and archival
agencies, and a digital library of online images of historic
newspapers searchable by publication, dates and editions.
Access to the electronic library is free to the public for
historical and genealogical research.
The library currently
contains more than 800,000 newspaper page images, and is
building on microfilm indexing completed as part of the prior
Florida Newspaper Project. Early Palm Beach County newspapers
accessible in the digital library include the Palm Beach
Tropical Sun, the Everglades News and The Sun of Belle Glade.
Newspaper page images can be
printed to assist researchers with their projects. The
“Florida Digital Newspaper Library” is indexed on the front
page of the PBC Library System’s “Genealogy Research” site.
Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/genealogy.htm
GPO’s ‘Federal Digital System (FDsys) Access & Services
The U.S. Government Printing
Office’s “Federal Digital System (FDsys)” is an
advanced documents system, which when completed by the end of
2010, will enable the GPO to manage and disseminate
information from all three branches of the U.S. Government.
The FDsys allows the Congress and federal
agencies to submit files electronically to the GPO for
printing and publishing services. It also allows government
information to reach a wider public audience by providing a
search engine to access full-text published documents in
digital format through an Internet-based system.
Many federal regulatory and Congressional
documents, archived on other GPO databases, already have been
transferred to the FDsys site. Document collections coming
soon to the FDsys include: Education Reports from ERIC, House
Journal, Independent Counsel Investigations, the economic Plum
Book and special reports.
The FDsys
database and other GPO services are linked to the U.S. Public
Documents index of the Palm Beach County Library System’s
“Government Research” web site. Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-usdocs.htm
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May/June
Library
Archives ICMA Government Resources
The International City-County Management
Association (ICMA) is a professional and educational
organization consisting of 9,000 public sector managers,
administrators and staff in cities, towns, counties and
regional government entities throughout the world.
The mission of the ICMA is
to create excellence in local governance by “developing and
fostering professional local government management.” Since
1914, the ICMA has achieved this mission by providing
technical and management assistance, training and information
resources to its members and local government communities.
The Government Research
Service (GRS) section of the Palm Beach County Library System
has been affiliated with the ICMA since 1989. The GRS
section’s staff is a past contributor to ICMA’s “Ideas in
Action: a Guide to Government Innovation” and also
published articles in its monthly “Public Management (PM)”
professional journal
A Library System
subscription allows GRS staff access to local government
reports, studies and publications available on the ICMA
database. These documents encompass a wide range of topics and
are of value in assisting county government agencies and staff
with their projects
The GRS section has created
a digital “ICMA Reports Master Index” to inform local
government researchers of documents archived at the Library
System’s Main Library. The index includes listings of monthly
ICMA “Service Reports” dating from 1991 thorough 2009,
as well as special “IQ” and “In Focus” research
publications.
The GRS section also archives
back issues of “Public Management” magazine from 2003
to 2010. The ICMA index is accessible online at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-mainresources.htm . For more
information about ICMA services at the County Library, e-mail
the GRS section at:
grs@pbclibrary.org
New
Age of ‘E-Genealogy’ Arrives at Your Library
In the new digital age of electronic “E-Genealogy,” the
recorded history of a person never disappears. It is
transformed and immortalized as data files.
The fusion of traditional
archives, personal computers and the Internet has created a
golden age genealogical research. Public libraries, as the
purveyors and providers of genealogical database services,
public access computers and free access to the Internet, play
a central role in this new age of family history research.
The transformation of
genealogy research is best illustrated by the “Ancestry:
Library Edition” database (the educational version of
Ancestry.com). By using guided indices and search engines, the
novice family history researcher may locate ancestors in the
Ukraine, trace their journey across the Atlantic to Ellis
Island in New York harbor, and find where a family member
lived and worked in America.
In prior generations, it
would take months or even years for a researcher to document
an ancestral journey through time. In some cases, it now takes
less than an hour. The informational power of E-Genealogy has
opened the doors of archives worldwide. The personal computer
has become the key that unlocks the secrets of a family’s
past.
Easy access to family
history resources and documents through E-Genealogy has
enhanced the popularity of this pastime. This is illustrated
by the success of two recent television series on NBC and PBS.
For example, in the PBS series “Faces of America with Henry
Louis Gates Jr.,” the Harvard scholar uses the latest tools of
genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12
renowned Americans.
Newspapers also have
recognized the public’s interest genealogy and are opening
their electronic news files to researchers seeking obituaries
and biographical information. Locally, the Palm Beach Post, in
cooperation with the Google News Archive project, now features
a “Historical Archive 1897 – 1988” search engine on the front
page of its “PalmBeachPost.com” web site.
E-Genealogy has allowed
local genealogical organizations to reach out to a new
generation of computer-savvy family history searchers by
providing online access to automated indices and the digital
content of their special collections in a manner that
archivists could only have dreamed of 25 years ago.
While E-Genealogy is a
useful tool in locating and tracing the history of ancestors,
it should be remembered that it is only one of many sources of
information. Like all source materials, electronic records
need to be verified and documented by the researcher through
critical analysis of the content.
The Palm Beach County
Library System’s Government Research Service (GRS) keeps its
patrons up to date with new E-Genealogy resources by
presenting “Genealogy Research: The Next Generation”
programs monthly. Genealogical databases and useful Internet
resources are indexed and linked for easy access on the
Library System’s “Genealogy Research” web site. Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/genealogy.htm .
(Note: This article is
a reprint of the original text written by Librarian Robert
Davidsson for the April 2010 edition of the Palm Beach County
Library System’s “Check-It-Out” newsletter.) |
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March/April
PBC
Genealogical Society Upgrades Web Site
The
Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County launched a new web
site last month with improved search capabilities and
resources for family history researchers in South Florida.
The new information site features a menu-driven library
collection bibliography (automated catalog) enhanced with an
additional 700 resource titles. A genealogical database, also
recently was added to the GSPBC web site, includes a
searchable index of “Palm Beach Post Area Deaths” listings
from 1960 to 2008.
The Genealogical Society has assisted family history
researchers in Palm Beach County since its founding in 1964.
Through a joint-use agreement with the Palm Beach County
Library System, the GSPBC has operated a special collection in
the lower level of the Main Library for the past two years.
The new address for the GSPBC
web site is:
http://www.gensocofpbc.org . Their information site is
cross-linked with the County Library’s “Genealogy Research”
web page, under its Local Organizations index. Library System
site address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/genealogy-local_organizations.htm
Library Web Page Links Obituary and Cemetery Sites
The Palm Beach County Library System’s Government Research
Service (GRS) section staff has created a digital “Obituaries
and Cemetery Records Index” on its “Genealogy Research”
web site to assist local family history researchers with their
projects.
The index features links to searchable government, nonprofit
and commercial information sites found on the Internet. Both
the U.S. Veterans Administration’s “South Florida VA National
Cemetery” web page and the VA Gravesite Locator, a search
engine designed to find veterans buries in designated national
and state cemeteries, are menu options on the Library’s
specialized web page index.
Other cemetery links include the worldwide Find a Grave
information site, and Find a Grave’s “Cemeteries of Palm Beach
County” listing of 36 burial sites. Find a Grave records are
submitted by volunteers and family members, and currently list
about 10,000 deceased persons in Palm Beach County cemeteries.
Death notice sites linked to
the Library’s “Obituaries and Cemetery Records Index” include
the Palm Beach Post’s digital “Obituaries” web page, the
national “Obituary Daily Times” and the searchable “U.S.
Obituaries” site from Legacy.com. The digital index also
features a “Palm Beach County Funeral Homes” menu option.
Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/genealogy-internet_search_links.htm
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January/February
Using Google’s News Archive for Research Projects
The Google “News Archive” search engine is a
user-friendly method of exploring the historical records of
active and defunct newspapers from across the nation.
Researchers may search for full-test articles or citations
about people, events or subjects found in the database.
The advanced “News Archive” search option
allows searching by name or keyword. Searches also may be
limited by date or source (name of a specific newspaper).
While many of the digital articles require fees to obtain
downloaded copies, online searching and viewing of historical
articles and citations is free.
The Google News Archive Partner Program offers
news publishers and repositories a way to make their
historical newspaper microfilm more accessible online. The
Palm Beach Post (archived back to 1916), Palm Beach Daily News
(dating back to 1912), and three former publications, the
Miami News/Metropolis, Tropical Sun and Palm Beach
Independent, are examples of Google “News Archive”
partnerships.
The microfilmed content of these historical
publications soon will be searchable via the Palm Beach Post’s
Home Page, as well as through Google. The Google “News
Archive” search engine also is indexed as a menu option on the
County Library’s electronic “E-Newspaper” web page. Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-enewsandtv.htm .
County Library Archives Glades Community Newspapers
“The Sun” newspaper of Belle Glade is a recent
addition to Newsbank’s “Access World News” database service
provided to the public through a contractual agreement with
the Palm Beach County Library System. The database allows
access to full-text electronic news records dating from Jan.
4, 2007 to the current edition.
The weekly newspaper is published by the
Independent Newspapers, Inc. ownership group. The “Sun’s”
official Internet site is indexed and linked to the Library
System’s “E-Newspapers” web page. Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-enewsandtv.htm .
Several former Glades-area newspapers,
archived on microfilm format, are located in the Serials
Collection of the Main Library. They include the Pahokee News
(1932 – 1953), Everglades News (1924 – 1967), Belle Glade News
(1939 – 1941), Belle Glade Herald (1941 – 1949), Glades
Observer (1954 – 1965), Glades Observer/Everglades Observer
(1996 – 1967), Everglades Observer (1968 – 1978), and the
Everglades Observer/Herald Observer (1979).
More
information about archival newspapers located in the Main
Library is available online at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/genealogy-newspapers_magazines.htm
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Updated:
November 17, 2011 |
Related
Pages: Genealogy Research - Legal Research - Government
Research |
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