Over the summer a huge number of new books were added to the library genealogy collection. They mostly apply to the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. A few books from some other states in that area and east of the Mississippi were also included, but the bulk were from those listed states.
This book buy was unique because those states have generally not seen much procurement action in the past, even though they are part of the library's geographical area of interest, which essentially are the states east of the Mississippi River.
The buy was unique also because most of the books came from local sources: genealogy and historical societies associated with the counties in those states. So there are many cemetery books, transcribed birth records, obituaries, etc. In other words, books that are the product of projects much like the ones the PGS undertakes to make local data available to researchers regardless of where they are.
The third uniqueness of this buy was the fact that the list of books was put together by the PGS and then acted upon by the library. It was a good, cooperative effort, and thanks goes to PGS member Gary Coil who, as our primary collection developer, put together the original purchase request.
Another book buy this summer that is now finding its way onto the shelves is not as large as the one described above but is still significant. It is focused on Jewish genealogy. Those books are now showing up in the Jewish genealogy section as well as related sections such as those dealing with Poland, Russia, Lithuania, etc. Another PGS member was instrumental in identifying those books...thanks goes to Emil Isaacson.
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