First Day At NGS 2014!

Actually,  last night was my first event. My first FamilySearch blogger dinner!
  Getting my blogger beads was very cool and so was meeting many of the bloggers that I have only met on line.
 After a wonderful meal, we were able to hear about some great things coming from FamilySearch. What I loved the most was the announcement that soon the ability to Index would be available on a tablet as well as a comuter. There will be nothing to download and if you index for more than one group there will no longer be a need to have multiple sign in information. Everything indexed will be counted for all.

FamilySearch Blogger Dinner

 After that it was time for the APG Dessert Social in the room next door. The dessert selections were hard to resist...chocolate covered strawberries? Yes, please!

  This morning I was up early and off to the Find My Past breakfast. We got to hear from Josh Taylor as he let us know about features of the website. Besides the Census, Vital, Migration and other records, Find My Past has the PERiodical Source Index. A great and often overlooked source that will be kept updated. If you haven't done so already, you need to try it out!

 In the Opening Session we heard from Sandra Gioia Treadway, the Librarian of Virginia and State Archivist.The library has some new and innovative goals. A few of the words to describe the modernization concept were energy, welcoming and activity.  As a patron comes into the library they will be greated and their needs will be assessed. Help will be given if needed. Better use of technology throughout the library is a goal. 

  Problems and Pitfalls in a Reasonably Shallow Search by Elissa Scalise Powell was my 11:00 class. She emphasized the importance of looking at original records and showed some great examples of what happens when you don't! 

 A lunch break and then it was time for Tom Jones' Lecture, New Standards or Old? Guidelines for Effective Reaearch and Family Histories. This session involved comparing the old 2000 version of the BCG book Genealogy Standards to the new 2014 version. He explained that the change was to clear up any misunderstanding that the Standards were only for those who were seeking or were certified.  The Genealogical Standards are for everyone.

Next in The Sociology of Cemeteries by Helen Shaw taught that what we know about our ancestors can help us narrow down where they might be buried and what we know about the cemeteries that our ancestors are buried in can tell us a lot about our ancestors. She said that people are buried in a particular place for a particular reason.

 The Next Generation of Genealogy Learning was my final session today. NGS is working hard to keep up with the times in the classes it offers. The CD based learning is being replaced by on line classes. Currently, there are two American Genealogical Studies classes offered on line. More are in the process of being added. The NGS Home Study Class CD 1 is also now available on line. The question was asked about those of us currently working on the CD version of the class. The answer was to continue with the CDs since it will be a while before the on line versions will be available.

What a day! I am exhausted but ready to get up and do it all again tomorrow.