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May/June
Library
Archives ICMA Government Resources
The International City-County Management
Association (ICMA) is a professional and educational
organization consisting of 9,000 public sector managers,
administrators and staff in cities, towns, counties and
regional government entities throughout the world.
The mission of the ICMA is
to create excellence in local governance by “developing and
fostering professional local government management.” Since
1914, the ICMA has achieved this mission by providing
technical and management assistance, training and information
resources to its members and local government communities.
The Government Research
Service (GRS) section of the Palm Beach County Library System
has been affiliated with the ICMA since 1989. The GRS
section’s staff is a past contributor to ICMA’s “Ideas in
Action: a Guide to Government Innovation” and also
published articles in its monthly “Public Management (PM)”
professional journal
A Library System
subscription allows GRS staff access to local government
reports, studies and publications available on the ICMA
database. These documents encompass a wide range of topics and
are of value in assisting county government agencies and staff
with their projects
The GRS section has created
a digital “ICMA Reports Master Index” to inform local
government researchers of documents archived at the Library
System’s Main Library. The index includes listings of monthly
ICMA “Service Reports” dating from 1991 thorough 2009,
as well as special “IQ” and “In Focus” research
publications.
The GRS section also archives
back issues of “Public Management” magazine from 2003
to 2010. The ICMA index is accessible online at:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/grs-mainresources.htm . For more
information about ICMA services at the County Library, e-mail
the GRS section at:
grs@pbclibrary.org
New
Age of ‘E-Genealogy’ Arrives at Your Library
In the new digital age of electronic “E-Genealogy,” the
recorded history of a person never disappears. It is
transformed and immortalized as data files.
The fusion of traditional
archives, personal computers and the Internet has created a
golden age genealogical research. Public libraries, as the
purveyors and providers of genealogical database services,
public access computers and free access to the Internet, play
a central role in this new age of family history research.
The transformation of
genealogy research is best illustrated by the “Ancestry:
Library Edition” database (the educational version of
Ancestry.com). By using guided indices and search engines, the
novice family history researcher may locate ancestors in the
Ukraine, trace their journey across the Atlantic to Ellis
Island in New York harbor, and find where a family member
lived and worked in America.
In prior generations, it
would take months or even years for a researcher to document
an ancestral journey through time. In some cases, it now takes
less than an hour. The informational power of E-Genealogy has
opened the doors of archives worldwide. The personal computer
has become the key that unlocks the secrets of a family’s
past.
Easy access to family
history resources and documents through E-Genealogy has
enhanced the popularity of this pastime. This is illustrated
by the success of two recent television series on NBC and PBS.
For example, in the PBS series “Faces of America with Henry
Louis Gates Jr.,” the Harvard scholar uses the latest tools of
genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12
renowned Americans.
Newspapers also have
recognized the public’s interest genealogy and are opening
their electronic news files to researchers seeking obituaries
and biographical information. Locally, the Palm Beach Post, in
cooperation with the Google News Archive project, now features
a “Historical Archive 1897 – 1988” search engine on the front
page of its “PalmBeachPost.com” web site.
E-Genealogy has allowed
local genealogical organizations to reach out to a new
generation of computer-savvy family history searchers by
providing online access to automated indices and the digital
content of their special collections in a manner that
archivists could only have dreamed of 25 years ago.
While E-Genealogy is a
useful tool in locating and tracing the history of ancestors,
it should be remembered that it is only one of many sources of
information. Like all source materials, electronic records
need to be verified and documented by the researcher through
critical analysis of the content.
The Palm Beach County
Library System’s Government Research Service (GRS) keeps its
patrons up to date with new E-Genealogy resources by
presenting “Genealogy Research: The Next Generation”
programs monthly. Genealogical databases and useful Internet
resources are indexed and linked for easy access on the
Library System’s “Genealogy Research” web site. Address:
http://www.pbclibrary.org/genealogy.htm .
(Note: This article is
a reprint of the original text written by Librarian Robert
Davidsson for the April 2010 edition of the Palm Beach County
Library System’s “Check-It-Out” newsletter.) |
