Thursday, May 26, 2016

PROQUEST LIBRARY GUIDES

ProQuest is the parent company for many of the reference databases St. Louis Public Library subscribes to. To name but a few:

*  Ancestry LE
*  Fold3.com
*  HeritageQuest Online.com
*  Historical Newspapers (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
*  Sanborn Maps

Some of these, like Ancestry LE, can only be used at Central Library or our branches. Others, like Fold3.com and HeritageQuest, can be used from home by persons with valid SLPL cards. 
http://www.slpl.org/slpl/library/article240098943.asp
ProQuest provides lots of training materials that can help you become a better, smarter user of their products. Go here to get started: 

http://proquest.libguides.com/genealogy_home

REFERENCE USA

ReferenceUSA is the premier source of business and residential information for reference and research. ReferenceUSA offers the most up-to-date data available in the market. In fact, their business and consumer databases are continuously updated from more than 5,000 public sources. With their help, you will be able to:

*  Find jobs by job skills, location, and industry
*  Find business opportunities
*  Research business executives
*  View historical market trends
*  Track down addresses and phone numbers
*  Discover news articles for research

St. Louis Public Library subscribes to ReferenceUSA, so persons with a valid SLPL card can use it from home.
 http://www.slpl.org/slpl/library/article240098943.asp
 Click on image to be taken to our reference databases landing page.

Friday, May 20, 2016

ELECTRONIC CITY HALL

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/city-laws/
Click image for more info.

SETTING AND USING YOUR PIN

http://stlouispubliclibrary.net/slpl/library/article240091686.asp
Click image for more info.

LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR...

http://www.slcl.org/using_the_library/library_cards
If you can get a free card with any of the above libraries, you are also eligible to get a free card at the other two libraries, thanks to the magic of reciprocal borrowing agreements...

Monday, May 16, 2016

HERITAGEQUEST ONLINE

If you are actively researching the history of your family, you may already be aware that the Library subscribes to HeritageQuest. a genealogy reference database. Unlike Ancestry.com, however, HeritageQuest can be accessed from home by persons with a valid Library card.

If you haven’t accessed HeritageQuest either here at the Library or from home recently, however, it’s probably time for a second look. They recently made significant additions to their already substantial database, and some of that material may be just what you’ve been looking for.

Recent additions include a number of map sets:

U.S. Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918: You can do a name search, or browse by state and county.

U.S. Indexed Early Land Ownership and Township Plats, 1785-1898: You can do a name search, or browse by state, principal meridian, and township and range.

Their map coverage also includes the Map Guide to the Federal Census, 1790-1920, and U.S. Enumeration District Maps and Descriptions, 1940.

If you are researching immigrants, HeritageQuest now includes numerous collections of foreign records. Coverage is most extensive for European countries, as you might expect, but there is also significant coverage for other continents/geographic areas, including Canada, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Pacific Islands, Africa, India, and Asia.

European countries with significant coverage include Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Channel Islands, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Gibraltar, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Wales.

Foreign records are generally searchable (as opposed to browse only), but are ordinarily recorded in the native language, and are best searched using name and location spellings commonly used in that language.