AtoZ Blogging Challenge – Ancestry

Program Name: Trace Your Roots

What: We have offered a few sessions on using the library edition of Ancestry.com to trace a person’s family lineage. This program consists of learning what Ancestry.com has available, other resources that may be of some assistance and a short time ensuring that patrons understand how to access Ancestry from the library’s website. We ask patron’s to bring a laptop, tablet or their cellphone if they have one to practice getting online, unfortunately we don’t have access to a computer lab.

Where: We offered this program in one of our smaller meeting rooms that can comfortably fit 20-25 people. I wasn’t able to attend the first class we offered, but just recently went to a class and found the room to be pretty full.

When: I think this program could be offered as a series or as a one-time program. We’ve only offered it as a one-time program (and then repeated it again a few months later). I’m not sure that this requires a certain time of the year, but if you do it during winter, it’s sure to be a project that people can work on when the weather’s dreary and cold.

Who: We’ve offered this program as an adult program, although teens are also allowed to participate. We’ve also offered this program with teen volunteers ready to assist patrons one-on-one with any technology related questions they may have – getting onto the Wi-fi, accessing online resources from the library’s website, etc.

How: We were able to convince a patron that has done a lot of work in tracing her roots to create a program for us (we were so lucky!). This would be a fairly simple program that staff could put together, just gathering the content from Ancestry’s website. Ancestry.com’s website has some great tips on getting started and would make a  great tutorial for patrons unfamiliar with where to begin.

Alternatives:

• I’ve heard of some libraries offering Ancestry lock-ins, where the library is open for a few hours later or earlier so that patrons can use public computers for the sole purpose of doing some research on their family’s lineage. I’d love to offer something like this on a Friday night or Saturday morning at our library… maybe this fall!
• If you’re library doesn’t have access to Ancestry.com, there are a number of free sites available that you can also promote to your patrons to get started.

During the month of April, I’ll be participating in the 2018 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. For this year’s theme, I’ll be offering you a library program plan with everything you to need to re-create it at your own library. Most of these programs we’ve offered in the past, others are programs I’d like to try in the future. I’m always looking for new inspiration and I thought you might be too!