by Lisa Cooke | Feb 15, 2013 | 01 What's New, Publishing
Have you ever checked out RootsMagic? This award-winning software helps family historians record and share their research. Much more than just another 
family tree organizer, its full-bodied publishing features help you translate your research into beautifully-formatted books and charts.
Rootsmagic has announced a slew of free new webinars to help you master their software. Here’s a list of what’s coming up in February and March:
Feb 19 – New WebTags in RootsMagic 6
Feb 26 – New “Find Everywhere” in RootsMagic 6
Mar 5 – New Timeline View in RootsMagic 6
Mar 19 – Splitting and Combining Files in RootsMagic
Mar 26 – Sentence and Source Templates in RootsMagic
Apr 2 – Working with Dates in RootsMagic
Click here to register to watch a webinar live or to download any you’ve missed, including past webinars like “Getting Started with RootsMagic,” creating custom reports or using source citations with RootsMagic. There are also classes for using their sister programs, Personal Historian and Family Atlas. If you’ve never tried RootsMagic, consider downloading their free basic edition and see how it works for you.
I’m proud that RootsTech is a sponsor of the Genealogy Gems Podcast!
by Lisa Cooke | Feb 14, 2013 | 01 What's New, Conferences
Congratulations to Sarah Stout
the randomly selected winner of my
Looking for Family History Love at RootsTech contest.
She would love to learn more about DNA. She says “The Introduction class to Genetic Genealogy at Family Tree DNA could be a good one to check out!”
Sarah has won a 3 day Registration to RootsTech 2013 being held in Salt Lake City March 21 – 23, 2013.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
by Lisa Cooke | Feb 14, 2013 | 01 What's New, Family History Library, FamilySearch, Records & databases, Research Skills
It’s a match made in genealogical heaven: two of our most important online tools for finding family history resources, WorldCat and the Family History Library catalog, will soon
be searchable simultaneously.
Recently OCLC (the company that runs WorldCat.org) announced that Family History Library holdings will soon appear in WorldCat search results, and vice versa. For several years we’ve had to remember to search both catalogs, because holdings didn’t overlap.
Just to remind you
what a significant development this is, let’s run a few numbers. WorldCat is the world’s largest online library catalog with 1.5 billion resources from more than 10,000 libraries worldwide. They add new materials at the rate of one per second. The Family History Library’s collection is much smaller, but every one of its 3.5 million or so holdings supports genealogical research. Their catalog is actively growing, too; they have 200 cameras are currently digitizing records in 45 countries.
Once the interface is complete, searchers at WorldCat.org or the FHL site will be able to view relevant search results in the other catalog without having to leave the website they’re on. According to OCLC Public Relations Manager Bob Murphy, there’s not a firm date yet for when the reciprocal service will be available. “It will likely take a few months,” he says. What he can say is how well received the announcement has been by genealogists and librarians: one response calls this the best collaboration since peanut butter and jelly.
What will this mean for our ability to borrow Family History Library materials? In the past, Family History Library books have not circulated through interlibrary loan, and microfilms have only circulated to designated FamilySearch Centers. FamilySearch has not said whether lending services will expand. However, in the past few years many public and private libraries have become FamilySearch affiliates. If you haven’t checked lately, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that you can now rent Family History Library microfilms through your favorite local library. We’ll keep an eye on this developing story for sure!
by Lisa Cooke | Feb 14, 2013 | 01 What's New, British, Holidays, Inspiration
This weekend many of us will show love with chocolates, flowers, jewelry or–as my husband prefers–tools and Chinese takeout. Many of us will also turn to Hallmark or American Greetings for the perfect card.
Our ancestors exchanged of love tokens at Valentine’s Day, too. Love letters, notes and even fancy gifts have passed between suitors for over 300 years. In England, many would-be lovers started sending pre-printed cards through the mail in the 1840s, when postage rates were standardized. In the United States, the practice became more popular after the Civil War, when thousands of soldiers-turned-beaus were looking for belles.
The National Archives (UK) has gathered a few virtual valentines in honor of the season. Browse images of old love letters, handmade and 
commercially-printed cards, like this 1905 valentine with its bold primary colors. Maybe these will inspire your own expressions of love this season! Or maybe they will inspire you look more closely for the love stories in your family history and honor a romance that came before you.
by Lisa Cooke | Feb 12, 2013 | 01 What's New, Conferences
I’m really looking forward to speaking at this year’s PMC conference. Hope to see you there! Here’s all the details on the fast approaching registration deadline.
WESTMINSTER, Colo., 11 February 2013−The early-bird deadline is approaching the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG®) 2013 Professional Management Conference (PMC), to be held 19-20 March in Salt Lake City. The deadline for registration discounts is Friday, 15 February.
The event will be held in Salt Lake City on the 19th and 20th of March, 2013, the two days prior to the RootsTech conference (http://www.rootstech.org).
This year’s theme is, “Building a Successful Business.” Speakers will be:
Workshop: Overcoming Research Barriers—An Interactive Case Study;
Variables in Professional Genealogists’ Approaches to Research;
Client Reports: Dos, Don’t, and Maybes
Thomas W. Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS
Order in the Court: Hands-on with Court Records;
More Than the Begats: Using the Law to Spice up a Research Report
Judy G. Russell, J.D., CG
Launching an Effective Marketing Campaign
Thomas MacEntee
Video Marketing: Killer YouTube Strategies
Lisa Louise Cooke
The Best Educational Plan for You: The Workshop
Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL
Organization for Genealogy Speakers
Jean Wilcox Hibben, Ph.D., M.A., CG
APG will also hold at reception and roundtable from 6:30–8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 20 March, which is open to members and non-members.
Register Now for APG PMC 2013
Attendance at PMC is open to members and non-members. Attendees may choose to attend the full conference or a single day. Details on pricing and the conference sessions are available at http://www.apgen.org/conferences/index.html .
