By Joe Garonzik
After 30 years and three editions, why is Val Greenwood’s Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy still the most respected genealogy textbook? It is clear, to the point, and authoritative, to be sure, but Greenwood is also extremely resourceful. The following illustration from one of its two chapters on Military Records is a good example.
ASE Sample Tests and Labor Estimator Tool Now Available to Your Library Customers!
The ASE Technician Sample Tests available in ChiltonLibrary.com are short sample tests which provide a high-level assessment of overall readiness to pass an ASE certification exam. Patrons will gain a better understanding of their strengths and areas needing additional review. According to the National Institute for Automotive Excellence more than 300,000 automotive professionals nationwide have earned the ASE Blue Seal of Excellence and must renew their certification every 5 years. Tests may be taken any number of times.
Read moreChiltonLibrary Delivers Amazing New Features for DIYers & Pros
Stealing a page from People Magazine’s popular annual feature, we thought you may be interested to know what’s hot in the world of eBooks. I mean, there’s no Adam Levine or Johnny Depp here, but you’ll find a listing of fascinating and informative resources that are in high demand across the country. Nearly as exciting.
By Anne Nagrant
My experience living abroad as a Peace Corps Volunteer made me very sympathetic to those in our local communities for whom English is not their native language. No matter the level of English a patron has, public libraries should be prepared to serve all.
Inside the library, signage and pictures can help visitors find what they need. Library staff can enunciate clearly and try saying the same thing in different ways. Because some immigrants prefer reading to conversation, offer flyers and handouts to take home. Order free Spanish-language print materials from Gale’s ProMo site to promote Informe Académico or PowerSpeak Languages.
Read more3 Surefire Tips to Help ESL/EFL Patrons Utilize eResources
By Vailey Oehlke
Each of us knows innately how the world around us is changing. From the smartphone in our pocket or purse that connects us with people and information in an instant, to the ongoing threats posed by large scale corporate data breaches, our lives are very different than they were a few short years ago. There isn’t much we can predict with certainty except that more uncertainty is ahead.
And, of course, the public library exists in this same uncertainty. Some see this as a fundamental threat to libraries. I see it as a transformative opportunity to redefine our role of value, contribute to our communities and change lives in a totally unique way. Aren’t we fortunate to be in positions to effect this opportunity?
By Joe Garonzik
The Connecticut genealogist, Donald Lines Jacobus (pronounced ja cob’ us), was the founder of the modern school of scientific genealogy and the greatest American genealogist of the 20th century. Jacobus and his protégés taught us how to research and write family histories, how to solve genealogical problems, what sources should be used, how to interpret them, and why we must abandon unsupported findings which, in many instances, were built upon flights of imagination as much as on facts.
Read moreWho was Donald Lines Jacobus, and why should you care?
By Kim Martin
Chance is a hard-working (if sometimes distracted) high school junior. Besides doing homework and working out with the team, he thinks a lot about 
applying to college – where to apply, what programs to look at, how to evaluate programs, and how to prepare for the upcoming college entrance exams. The amount of information and entry points to finding information can be boggling and overwhelming.
Chance and other students in your community are looking for information that can help them evaluate career options, examine courses of study, and find financial aid. You can provide them with easy-to-use electronic resources that give them instant access to rich information about every aspect of applying to college.
Support your community’s future college graduates now with resources that can help guide important, life-altering decisions and provide them and their families
Read moreHelping students find the right college…and the right path to get there
By Joe Garonzik
Answer the following questions either True or False:
If you answered false to any of these statements, you should read on. Why? In the first instance, it is an axiom of genealogy that all family research must ultimately be validated against original sources (or facsimiles of those sources on microfilm, etc.). How else can a researcher ever know that his data wasn’t derived from a mis-copied record, or that a lineage published in a book is simply incorrect?
By Joe Garonzik
In 1663, England’s King Charles II ceded the Carolinas to Anthony Ashley Cooper and seven other proprietors who had supported the Stuarts in ending the Cromwellian Revolution and returning Charles II to the throne. Notwithstanding the 16th-century exploits of Sir Walter Raleigh and legendary Virginia Dare, it was a group of Virginians who established North Carolina’s oldest settlement along the Albemarle Sound in 1653–a full decade before the installation of the Lord Proprietors.
The Crown divided the Carolinas in 1691, although North Carolina would not receive its own governor for another 20 years. British, Huguenot, German and Swiss populated the North Carolina tidewater during the first half of the 18th-century. New Bern, established primarily by Germanic immigrants under the impetus of Christopher de Graffenried, would become the largest city in the colony. Large numbers of Scots Highlanders and Scots-Irish, many by way of the Great Wagon Road through Pennsylvania and into the Shenandoah Valley, populated the western part of the colony. Eighteenth-century North Carolina was also noteworthy for its large Quaker population and for Wachovia, a Moravian settlement in Forsyth County.
By Diane Sweetwood
Ana Lopez, 27, currently earns just above the federal minimum wage as a cashier at a local supermarket, making $16,410 per year at $7.89 per hour. She aspires to earn a Child Development Associate certification following her successful graduation from Career Online High School. As an infant/toddler teacher at a local child care center, Ana could see an immediate 50% increase of her annual salary to $24,627 per year, at $11.84 an hour, with potential to earn more than $50,000 if she rises to the Director level.
Read moreMake an Economic Impact on Your Community: The Ripple Effect of a High School Diploma