The Future of Canada's Libraries and Archives

The Royal Society of Canada has establishing an Expert Panel on “The Status and Future of Canada’s Libraries and Archives" to help Canadian institutions find their way through the 21st century.

These are the founding principles of the Expert Panel of the Royal Society of Canada, which has as its mandate

1. To investigate what services Canadians, including Aboriginal Canadians and new Canadians, are currently receiving from libraries and archives.

2. To explore what Canadian society expects of libraries and archives in the 21st century.

3. To identify the necessary changes in resources, structures, and competencies to ensure libraries and archives serve the Canadian public good in the 21st century.

4. To listen to and consult the multiple voices that contribute to community building and memory building.

5. To demonstrate how deeply the knowledge universe has been and will continue to be revolutionized by digital technology.

6. To conceptualize the integration of the physical and the digital in library and archive spaces.
Public consultations are being planned to take place in: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary/Edmonton, Vancouver, and Yellowknife in the coming months.

To read more about the The Status and Future of Canada's Libraries and Archives go to http://rsc-src.ca/en/expert-panels/rsc-reports/status-and-future-canadas-libraries-and-archives

Join Italians and Italian Fans for a Record-Setting Weekend!

We have received this exciting news from FamilySearch

“FamilySearch International, Salt Lake City Italian natives and those with Italian language skills, Italian ancestors, or a love of all things Italian are invited to help index (transcribe) historic Italian records this weekend (Sept. 13-15) to make them freely searchable on FamilySearch.org.

The event, part of the ongoing Italian Ancestors Project sponsored by the National Archives of Italy and FamilySearch, will unite participants from around the world in an attempt to set a new two-day volunteer mark of 35,000 records (approximately 100,000 ancestor names) indexed.

The event will start Friday, September 13 at 6:00 p.m. (MDT) and end Sunday, September 15, at 6:00 p.m. (MDT). To volunteer, or for details and status updates throughout the event, visit the Italian Ancestors Facebook event page.

About the Italian Ancestors Project

The Italian Ancestors Project, jointly sponsored by the National Archives of Italy and FamilySearch, is the largest historic Italian records preservation and access initiative ever.

Through this unprecedented effort, more than 115 million historic birth, marriage, and death records from Italy’s civil registration (1802 to 1942) containing some 500 million names of Italian ancestors, will be digitized, indexed (transcribed) and made freely searchable online.
Indexing of these valuable records is being provided by thousands of volunteers worldwide. Working from their homes at their own pace, volunteers have already made more than two million records available. Thousands more volunteers are needed”.

For more information or to volunteer, visit www.familysearch.org/italian-ancestors.

The BCGS Bring-A-Friend Membership Contest

I read about the Bring-A-Friend Membership Contest this morning, and think it’s a really good idea. What do you think?

The notice says that “All current BCGS members are eligible for one entry for each full membership (not associate memberships) they sign up from August 2013 to January 9, 2014.

Three Prize Baskets will be awarded at the June 2014 meeting by draw.

New memberships taken out now will run from September 2013 to December 2014 so this is a nice bonus for the new members too!”

Go to http://www.bcgs.ca/?page_id=1885 for the Contest Membership Application Form.

Call for speakers

The Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has issued a Call for Speakers for a spring 2014 workshop titled Scotland and its People.

This full-day workshop for family historians, to be held on Saturday 12 April 2014, will explore the social, economic and cultural history of Scotland.

We are seeking proposals for presentations at this workshop from professional genealogists, historians, family historians, librarians and archivists.

The deadline for proposals is Monday 18 November 2013.

You can contact Gwyneth Pearce, Secretary, Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society at
publicity@toronto familyhistory.org or contact them at www.torontofamilyhistory.org.

Recent changes at the FHL, Salt Lake City

Have you heard about the recent changes made to the FHL library in Salt Lake City?

Apparently, the research consultants have been moved from behind their walls and desks, and now they will be on the floors to be more accessible to the library patrons.

In the FamilySearch blog it says that “We have moved our consultants out from behind staff doors to assist at research counters and out on the patron floor.”

At the time of writing, the change had only been made, so they are asking “for patience and understanding as we implement and refine the new patron service model.”

They say that “The Family History Library is open more hours, provides more computers, printing options, and professional help than any other genealogical library, society, or archive in the world. We remain committed to providing all of these services free of charge to patrons from all over the world.”

So, do you think that these changes will be beneficial to the patrons? If anyone is going there this fall, on your return,tell us how you found it.

TONI database tops 2,400,000

The Ontario Name Index (TONI) has just recorded its 2,401,406 name, and it keeps on growing.

When I am asked to research a name in Ontario, one of the first places I check is TONI, to see if the name is there. One aspect of TONI which I find is really helpful is that often TONI also gives the county in which the name is found.

So what does TONI do?

• TONI is an indexing program and NOT a digitization program. Unlike some of our commercial and non-commercial colleagues, we are not limiting TONI to digitized sources and indexing them

• The Ontario Name Index (TONI) is a mega-index of names with the goal of including every name found in any publication relating to Ontario

• Indexes, particularly name indexes. These are the most valuable thing a genealogical society can produce

• The index will point people to the location of the information about that name. The location may be a Branch document, a web site, a microfilm, a family history, an archive, etc

• TONI will be on the public part of the OGS website so that anyone can access it

TONI is all of these things.

Go to TONI at http://www.ogs.on.ca/integrated/toni_database1.php

LAC UPDATE: Access to 15 databases in one stop

Some positive news from Library and Archives Canada, in that you can now search the nominal indexes of the censuses from 1825 to 1916 online. That is a total of more than 32 million documents, and they are FREE!

I have used them, and they are very helpful. Especially, when it comes to finding people of the same names in a particular county.

In the press release, the LAC says “This massive undertaking required continuous cooperation from members of a number of LAC teams, as well as highly organized operations, over a number of months.

What is the final result?

• A clear presentation that is consistent with the Government of Canada’s Internet accessibility standards.

• The ability to perform a search using nominal or geographical criteria.

• Standardized geographic metadata that is now available in both official languages.

• The ability to choose between images in JPG or PDF formats.

• Weekly automatic updates.

And, ultimately, for you, valued users, a much simpler and easier way to trace your ancestors”!

To go to the website, click on to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx