The Internet as a Tech Tool to Find Offline Information

[Note: This blog post has been updated since it was originally written.]

I love using the Internet to find information and collaborate with other researchers, and people in general. And I love using tech tools to help me be more efficient. I really love those tech tools that work behind the scenes, so to speak, that look for information while I'm doing other "stuff" 'cause who doesn't like to be more efficient?

However, while it's helpful to have tech tools, like Ancestry.com's Hints [or their shaking leaves], MyHeritage's family tree hints, or even Mocavo's family tree hints. Those "hints" or just one tech tool in my Tech Tool Box. And, really, I only use them sparingly for my own personal research. They have their pros and cons. And the main con, in my opinion, is that they tend to lead new researchers astray by subconsciously suggesting that's the only way to research. And? It's not really researching. It's searching. And it's passive. And it's an algorithm that's doing the passive searching. [Which is a very fancy math formula that is powered by computer programs. And I've never really liked math all that much, so there's that.] And it's only looking in its own limited database of information - not anywhere or everywhere online and offline that the answer I am seeking may exist.

So, it's not really thorough or very complete, which is why it's a tool. A tool that's being controlled by an algorithm which are both guided by you and the family tree and the information you've provided to it, which may or may not be correct. To me, that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E. But only if you haven't relegated this particular tool to your Tech Tool Box to be used when appropriate.

Also, I do check all my free and subscription-based databases online for documents and information that have been digitized. This is a part of my search Tech Tool Box. Either digitized images of documents or indexes of records are being thrown up on the Internet each and every day by many, many organizations and services. And that's the reason I highlight them in my daily blog posts, Genealogy Things You Need to Know This Morning.  

But what do you do when you have done all that you can with your online resources? You use your online tech tools to find it offline, if anything exists. Following are 10 general Internet tips on how to locate online where information you need for your family tree research might exist offline. Basically, it's using the Internet as an online Tech Tool to find resources and information offline. 

1. Consult your Pedigree Chart and determine holes in your research. Do you have unsubstantiated information as birth, marriage, and/or death events? Do you have some information that is substantiated, but you could use some more evidence or maybe even better evidence? [Because while you love your Great Aunt Bernice and all those stories she tells, sometimes those stories sound a little too good to be true.] Or do you have holes where a birth, marriage, and/or death event should be? Start with the person where one of these above questions is answered with a "yes".
   
2. Now that you have a person and event information that you are looking for, look at this person's other events. Where did they take place? Have no events and, thus, no locations for this person? Then look at the people around this person in your family tree. In what location were these people doing 'stuff', and where might their paths have crossed? Start with that location.
   
3. Is the location you have just the state or does it include a city or town? Determine the county. Keep in mind county boundaries may have changed. To determine the county, I usually Google the city/town and state. Then taking that county, I use The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists edited by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and Erin Nevius to determine record  and county information. I also look at their notes on state record availability. [Note: My edition of this reference book was published in 2004, and website URLs may have changed since then, but the information they provide is absolutely invaluable to me. So it's not really about the links they provide -- I could Google those -- it's about the records information.] You can also use the Red Book which Ancestry.com makes available on their Wiki. Another great resource for this type of information is FamilySearch.org's Wiki. [It's just sometimes I prefer to thumb through a book, you know?]
   
4. If you don't already know, determine what libraries with genealogical departments, genealogy libraries, or state archives are closest to you as well as the location you are looking in.  Those hard-to-get-to facilities might do look-ups or you can check the Family History Library's online catalog and perhaps rent some microfilm from them.
   
5. Starting with the closest facility near you, check their online catalog of both books and microprint {includes microfilm and microfiche}. Also note that some libraries with genealogy departments and/or genealogy libraries don't have their microprint as a part of their online catalog, but as a separate index database. Or you might have to get outta of those pajamas and pink bunny slippers to visit them in person to see what they have for microprint.
   
6. Notate whether or not a facility has either books or microprint available for the county and state that you are needing to do research in. Also, sometimes it might just be a book for a state and not a specific county that you'll find some information [or more likely clues] on [or about] your ancestor.
   
7. Make a list for each facility. Use Evernote, or OneNote, or a list-making app, or paper & pencil. Whatever works for you. It doesn't matter.
   
8. If a facility is too far away for you to visit, see if they participate in inter-library loan of books or microfilm. For example, in Texas, The Texas State Library and Archives participates in the inter-library loan program for their microfilmed county records. Thus, after checking out if closer facilities have what I'm looking for and they don't, then I check TSLA's website to see if they have it on microfilm for the county that I'm looking in. If they have what I need, then I go to my local library and order it to be delivered to my local library for me to view there. This is cheaper than the $7.50 rental fee per microfilm roll from the Family History Library. Whether I'm working for a client or myself, I'm always keeping an eye out on the budget.]
   
9. Then check the FHL's online catalog to see if they have any microfilm that can be rented for the location and/or event that is being searched. If they have what I'm looking for that I think might possibly yield some information, then I rent it online to be delivered to my local FHC. [Which for me happens to be my local library because they became an affiliate recently. YES!]
   
10. If I can't find what I need from these facilities, then I turn to the original producer or keeper of the original document like county district clerk's offices. I do this by first consulting my copy of Carmack's and Nevius' The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists [which has more dog ears than my local humane society] to determine how things are organized by state and then by county. It also has some awesome "State Resources" lists.
    

Remember:

• Not everything is online. It just isn't. You'll need to accept that.
  
• No technology tool can find your family tree for you all by itself, otherwise it wouldn't be called a tool. {It'd be called something like the "For $29.99 I Can Do All Your Research For You Robot". And wouldn't that be nice? But, really? For $29.99?}
  
• As a properly used tech tool, the Internet can help you to be more efficient with your time, your budget, and your online as well as offline research.
  

Happy Researching!
~Caroline
© Copyright 2013 4YourFamilyStory.com -- All Rights Reserved.

Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and Erin Nevius, editors. The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists: The Essential Guide to American County and Town Sources. Cincinnati, Ohio: Family Tree Books, 2004.

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