Searching records in libraries and archives has become easier as major repositories used by family historians and genealogists continue to digitize records and offer access to them.
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The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is the largest and most comprehensive subject index to genealogy and local history periodicals published in North America and the British Isles. It is a must-check source for every family line and geographic location for family historians.
The 2007 edition of PERSI has been loaded on the HeritageQuestOnline.com Web site. This latest edition brings the number of periodical titles indexed to 6,652 and the number of article citations to 2,038,494.
Metropolitan Library System facilities, the Oklahoma History Center Research Library and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints research centers offer patrons free access to HeritageQuest.
Records held by the National Archives and Records Administration are difficult to access unless you take a trip to Washington, D.C., or hire someone locally to research those records. The Archives states that about 0.02 percent of its holdings have been microfilmed.
The Archives reports that commercial companies have only digitized their microfilmed records, therefore the National Archives plans to start a campaign to digitize additional historic records for public access and place them online. The Archives predicts it will have 1 percent of its holdings available online by 2012.
The Archives is requesting input from the public as to which records the public deems most important to digitize first. To learn more about the digitization of records, go online to www.archives.gov/comment/digitizing-plan.html.
After reading the draft, send your comments via e-mail to Vision@nara.gov or by fax to (301) 837-0319. Comments are due by Nov. 9.
Genealogy notes
•The Oklahoma Genealogical Society regular meeting scheduled for Nov. 5 at the Oklahoma History Center has been canceled because of building scheduling conflicts.
•The Noble County Genealogy Society has announced that copies of the "Noble County, Oklahoma, History Book Volume I” are available for $75.95 plus shipping and handling costs. For more information or to order a copy, call society President Virginia Slay at (580) 336-9221 or write to P.O. Box 785, Perry, OK 73077. Volume II is scheduled for publication by the end of the year.
If you have a question, event, idea or an experience you wish to share, send e-mail to Sharon Burns at sburns@oklahoman.com.
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