Week 19: At the Library

 At the Library

I worked for over 35 years in several academic libraries at Queen's University (starting in 1976 when I was in high school until my early retirement in 2013) and 2 years at the John Archer Library at the University of Regina.  The time at Regina was in the Interlibrary Loan unit and one of the positions I held at the Bracken Health Sciences Library at Queen's was in the Interlibrary office.  What a great experience for someone interested in genealogy research!  Although I never worked in the departments, the Documents Unit at Queen's is also a depository for Canadian government publications - so I had access to microfilmed census before digital records were available on the internet.  And Special Collections and Rare Books department had various genealogical related material as well.  Guess how I would spend my coffee breaks and lunch hours?

For the last few years that I lived in my hometown of Kingston Ontario, I spent a lot of time at the Kingston Public Library downtown location.  At that time, the Kingston Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (now Ontario Ancestors) was housed at that location, in an historical house thathad been incorporated into the "new" library in 1978.   That collection was relocated elsewhere in Kingston when the downtown branch closed in 2016 for renovations.  When the renovated building reopened in 2019, the genealogy collection was relocated back to that location, but on the second floor.

When my husband's work transferred to Regina, Saskatchewan I expected that my genealogical research would be totally dependent on internet research.  But I was pleasantly surprised at the availability of Ontario records at library and archives facilities in Regina, Saskatchewan.   As many settlers of the Canadian prairies came from Ontario, or passed through that province enroute to the west, Saskatchewan genealogists recognized the importance of having access to Ontario records.

The university library had microfilm for Saskatchewan newspapers, so I was able to access obituaries, etc on my lunchtime, or after work.  But my weekends were often spent at either the downtown location of the Regina Public Library or the library for the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society (SGS) which happened to be located in Regina.  Naturally, I took out a membership to that society.

The public library houses the Prairie History Room which is a great resource for historical and genealogical records on the Canadian Prairies.  I was fortunate that staff at this facility, in conjunction with the SGS, held a series of workshops on genealogy research.  I attended them all - starting with basic genealogy research to accessing records in the Prairie History Room as well as the SGS library and the Saskatchewan Archives.  The Archives had 3 locations around the province, one of which was in Regina.  As my time in Regina was 15 years ago, I'm not sure if these workshops still take place as I'm sure the individuals involved are no longer available.  Hopefully, another generation of researchers has continued this important duty. 

I have always been very appreciative of the genealogy resources available to me during my short time in Regina.  As well as the dedicated staff and volunteers that facilitated the workshops.  I continue to sing their praises.  I was also fortunate enough to also experience a full day conference hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Regina, but never did take advantage of accessing their library. 

Nowadays, many genealogy researchers seem to solely rely on the internet without leaving their home.  Yes, I enjoy the advantage of doing research in the comfort of my home and not having to adhere to library hours, but there are still advantages to visiting your local library.  Even if your ancestors never lived in the area where you are now located, the library (either public or academic) could still be a gold mine of information for you.  My time in Regina certainly proved that.  Either print books that are non-circulating or access to online records like newspapers that, due to licensing agreements, are available only on library computers.   For researching from home, some public libraries are able to provide remote access to members to databases.  So be sure to check out the perks of getting a library card for your local public library.

There are also advantages to checking out the websites of the public or academic library in the area where your ancestors did live.  Some libraries do allow non-members access to digitized newspapers (or at least obituary information) as well as other genealogical information like cemetery records.

I admit that since most of my working life has been in libraries, I am biased to the advantages of libraries. But I do strongly believe that my genealogical research (20+ years) would not be as advanced without taking advantage of spending time At The Library.