The Genealogist's Virtual Library: Full-Text Books on the World Wide Web with free CD-ROM

by Thomas Jay Kemp

Overview

Many genealogists have likely tried to find family infor-mation on the World Wide Web. The Internet has become an increasingly popular place to do research-not only for serious genealogists and local historians but for everyday computer users interested in tracing their family histories. The growing availability of full-text books and journals on the Internet has made vast amounts of valuable genealogical information available at the touch of a button.

And, now there is an easy way to locate the most useful texts on the web! The Genealogist's Virtual Library is an outstanding new volume that offers a comprehensive bibliog-raphy of full-text books and journals. The Genealogist's Virtual Library directs you to the sites on the web that contain the full-text of books; these sites contain complete texts of books, not just synopses or listings. It identifies thousands of family genealogies, biographies, and local histories. The Virtual Library provides an extensive listing of these sources for genealogical research and is the first volume to give this helpful, time-saving information.

The Genealogist's Virtual Library allows you to see what is available for specific areas of interest and to browse other topics. This new volume is a 'Books in Print' of full-text genealogy books available free of charge on the Internet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780842028646
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/2002
Edition description:	BK&CD-ROM
Pages:	268
Product dimensions:	8.58(w) x 11.18(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Thomas Jay Kemp is chair of the Genealogy Committee of the American LIbrary Association.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Further Suggested Readings Chapter 3 Family Histories Chapter 4 Local Histories by States Chapter 5 General Subjects

Editorial Reviews

A much-needed book that is well organized and very easy to use. It is definitely an excellent addition to the library of any genealogist who uses the World Wide Web as a research tool.

Matthew L. Helm

The complete bibliographic citations, the simple, straight-forward organization, and the attention to detail in the compilation make this work particularly easy to use and useful for both casual and serious researchers.

Curt B. Witcher

I knew that there are a number of genealogy books and journals available on the World Wide Web, but I was surprised at the number of them that Mr. Kemp found! This book lists thousands of full-text genealogy and history books available to anyone with Web access.

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Kemp's (Virtual Roots) compilation of full-text materials accessible to online researchers divides the titles into three categories covering family histories, local histories, and general research subjects. Each title's entry provides a bibliographic reference and a URL for the digitized text. The attraction of this list is that many of the titles were originally published in the 19th and early 20th centuries and are now hard to come by. However, there are problems. Kemp claims that the sites are free, yet the reader will find numerous links to Primary Source Media's City Directories of the United States, which requires a subscription to see search results for all but six city directories. Also, he asserts that the "books" can be read in their entirety on the web, but several magazine articles are included and some titles are described at their own sites as only guides and finding aids. The many lengthy URLs may also prove problematic, and changing addresses may render the book's links out of date, although they may prove more stable since the bulk come from the Library of Congress's American Memory project, the University of Michigan's Making of America, and the University of North Carolina's Documenting the American South project. Perhaps a discussion of each project with suggested search strategies would be more appropriate. Buy where demand warrants. [A CD-ROM version of the book is included.--Ed.]--Elaine M. Kuhn, Allen Cty. P.L., Fort Wayne, IN Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal