Saturday, August 22, 2020

Macomb County Genealogy Group Reveals Its Fall Meeting Topics for 2020

 Hi Everyone!

As most of you know our MCGG Friday and Let's Talk...Genealogy meetings after March 11, 2020, were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the situation continuing and our normal meeting place not scheduling in-person group meetings, MCGG has decided to dip our toes in the virtual meeting world.

Today, we release MCGG's 2020 Fall MCGG & Let's Talk...Genealogy Combined Virtual Meeting Schedule.

While we get used to this new adventure of hosting meetings online, we have decided to hold just one (combined) meeting each month. With the help of Mount Clemens Public Library, we are hosting these meetings with Zoom Meeting.

MCGG Members on the mail list will receive the meeting invite link by email. New attendees should register with MCPL’s Library Event Calendar to receive the invite link.

The meeting dates and topics can be found on the respective meeting pages of this blog site or in our Southeast Michigan Genealogy Events calendar on the Calendar page. (We are in the process of updating the SouthEast Michigan Genealogy calendar for the area's other societies and groups as they revise and release their schedules.)

On both the MCGG Friday Meetings and Let's Talk Meetings pages, you will now find the PDF file link of our current meetings flyer which can be viewed and downloaded. (Please note the image of the flyer in this post is just a low-res image. To see/download the flyer PDF you need to go to either of the meeting pages.)

We hope you join us and enjoy the coming genealogy season. 

See you soon at the Mt Clemens Public Library!
LE

Saturday, August 8, 2020

Take Inventory: Back-to-School Sales are ... Restock Your Genealogy Supply Sales!

 It's time for our annual reminder ...
Back-to-School Sales on school supplies are not just for kids! These sales are for genealogists too! 

Just a few of the many supplies a genealogist would use.

"School" may have changed a bit due to the pandemic but back-to-school sales are still happening for whatever form your area's schools take on this year.

Anyone who uses a lot of common office supplies should keep their eyes and ears open for some extreme savings that are only around this time year for certain supplies. So be smart and pay attention to those Back-to-School Sales going on for the next couple months so you can partake in the savings too. 

What would interest a genealogist? The first things that come to mind are USB drives (large sizes at great prices and small sizes at even better prices); printer/copier paper; pens and pencils; pencil lead (for those mechanical pencils); highlighters; file folders or pocket folders; paper and binder clips; index cards for those that like old school ways; plastic file boxes (keep that water damage away); sticky notes; binders; paper; computer accessories (like mice, computer bags, external hard drives, printers, software, large monitors, and more); etc. Even office desks and chairs can be found on sale. 

Yes, for some things it is best to make sure you get acid-free versions, but that can get expensive and sometimes compromises must be made. Note acid-free copier/printer paper is easier to find nowadays. 

Also, at about this time of year (July/August/September) computer manufacturers are about to release their new models so good to great prices can often be found on this past year's models. (If your computer is really old and can not upgrade to Windows 10 because of old hardware or low-memory issues consider these sales. Also if your computer is more than five years old consider the changes currently taking place in Windows 10 updates that will not account for older hardware.) Just remember to get as large of hard drive and as much memory as you are able to afford, and keep an eye on processor speed/power. There are other factors to consider when buying a computer -- these are three key ones. While desktop computers are a little less expensive, laptops have the advantage of portability meaning you can take them with you to the library or researching. Laptops with DVD/CD readers/burners are getting harder to find but you can find them though it may mean a larger laptop. Chrome books and tablet/laptop conversions can be cheaper but may not run your programs/applications. Make sure the device you are considering can handle your must-have program/applications. And, lastly do not forget about those external hard drives for additional storage space AND for backing up all your data.

And for those who shop Amazon. Amazon Prime Day has not been announced yet though the 4th Quarter (possibly early October) has been seen so keep your eyes and ears tuned in for the announcement of an actual date.  Great deals can be found so keep an eye out for those short term deals but remember to do your due diligence and make sure your sale price is indeed a good one. If you are not an Amazon Prime member you can start a free month trial (yes, even on Prime Day) to take advantage of the benefits but remember to cancel before the renew date if you do not want to continue the membership.

May you find the deals on what you need, not on what you don't need. 

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library! 
LE

Sunday, August 2, 2020

Ancestry Library Edition Temporary Remote Access Extended Again — Now Available until End of September 2020

One of the temporary online resources that developed out of these COVID-19 times is the temporary remote access of Ancestry Library Edition thanks to its providers ProQuest and Ancestry.com. This resource is accessible via the website of the library that issued your library card if that library has a library subscription to Ancestry Library Edition and that library's website setup meets certain requirements and the library has requested this temporary remote access.

Looking at our favorite library's genealogy pages we have learned this wonderful resource has been extended again until the end of September. As we said last month, according to ProQuest this temporary remote access will be re-evaluated monthly.

So, we patrons of the Suburban Library Cooperative libraries and many other library systems across the United States and Canada can continue to keep on researching while we stay safe to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

You can access Ancestry Library Edition by signing into the website of the library that issued your library card and then clicking the link to Ancestry Library Edition. You will be taken to the Ancestry Library Edition home page and from there you can search to your heart's content.

Ancestry Library Edition has no personalized features so among other things you can not access while using it is your personal Ancestry online tree nor can you link records to it if you have one. Regardless of whether you have an online tree or tree in a genealogy program on your computer, you will need to remember to download your record image finds with their source information and add them to your genealogy trees manually so you have access to that information in the future.

To compliment this online resource, remember that the Macomb County Genealogy Group has created an overview video on our YouTube channel. This video is An Overview of Ancestry Library Edition. After explaining the differences between Ancestry Library Edition and a personal home Ancestry.com subscription, we walk you around the Ancestry Library Edition website and some different ways to start searching for your ancestors.

We hope you are able to utilize this genealogy resource (Ancestry Library Edition) and learn something new about your ancestors.

If you need help starting genealogy see our MCGG Beginner's Packet for Family Research on our Research Help page.

Remember to have fun researching your ancestors everyone. And stay safe.

See you soon at Mt. Clemens Public Library!
LE