This week's challenge from Randy Seaver for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is much more straightforward than some recent ones.
Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.
1. Do you have a digital genealogy library? If so, what titles are in it? If not, why not?
2. Tell us about your digital genealogy library in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status post. Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post.
[Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for this suggested topic.]
I definitely have a digital genealogy library. I unfortunately can't easily tell you the titles because I don't have a digital library catalog to go along with it. But I can do a general breakdown along the lines of Randy's.
• I have a digital folder named Reference Information. Within it are about 150 subfolders with broad categories such as Adoption, Black Research, California (and many other locations), DNA, History, Journals/Newsletters, Libraries and Archives, Paleography, Photographs, Prison Records, Source Citations, and Women. Within each of those folders can be a variety of items, such as articles, photographs, and PDF's of books. A folder can have as few as two items (because I only create a folder for a subject after I have at least two items for that subject) but no real limit for a maximum. I sometimes will create subfolders if I have a lot of a specific type of resource. I have a lot of public domain city directory PDF downloads in this folder under specific locations; they're usually in subfolders. The Journals/Newsletters folder has a subfolder for each journal and newsletter I receive electronically.
• I have another folder named Research Aids. These are things such as indices, instructions on how to complete a procedure, guides for using sites, and info on converting coordinates.
• I have folders for each of my family surnames and the surnames of extended family and friends for whom I continue to do research. Along with documents and photographs relating to a given surname, I have some books and articles relating to specific surnames which are filed in the appropriate folders.
• I have a folder for Education. It holds conference handouts and programs, syllabi, and recordings of presentations.
• I have a folder for my presentations and handouts, although I'm not sure I was counting that as part of my digital library. I guess I should, though, huh? It's about genealogy and it's digital.
That is a good representation of the majority of my genealogy digital library. I have a lot of files taking up lots of disk space, that's for sure. I'm not into downloading movies or TV series, and I don't play computer games anymore, so I had to find something to fill my hard drives.
Your digital library is very well organized. I might have to start grouping my titles in sub-folders, too.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I only use subfolders when I start collecting too many items to glance through the list quickly. :)
DeleteYes, we have similar uses for digital resources. We just categorize them differently. I'm not sure an app would help me. I just use the search feature to locate something I'm sure I have but not sure where I put it.
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense: Everyone's brain works differently, so we all sort differently. I guess an app would need to be customizable to account for that. And I use search regularly also.
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