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Google Scholar and ProQuest Team Up!
This just in! Google Scholar and ProQuest are teaming up to provide a publicly-accessible index to all of ProQuest’s scholarly journal content. Google Scholar already delivers search results on your favorite genealogy keywords (names, places and records) from scholarly publications like dissertations, academic articles and more. (Click here to read my blog post about Google Scholar for genealogy.)
Now the search experience will become more powerful and inclusive. According to a press release, “ProQuest will enable the full text of its scholarly journal content to be indexed in Google Scholar, improving research outcomes. Work is underway and the company anticipates that by the third-quarter of 2015, users starting their research in Google Scholar will be able to access scholarly content via ProQuest.”
“ProQuest has rich, vast content that advances the work of researchers, scholars and students,” blogged the CEO of ProQuest. “Respecting the different ways researchers and librarians choose to conduct their research is essential to ensuring that content is simple to discover and use. We know Google Scholar is a popular starting point for researchers of all kinds. Our teamwork with Google will enable these patrons to be automatically recognized as authenticated ProQuest users and seamlessly link to their ProQuest collections, where they can connect with full-text scholarly content.”
It appears that there will still be a charge to access copyright-protected material (“authenticated ProQuest users” in the quote above are those that have access via a ProQuest subscription). According to the press release, “Users who are not recognized will be sent to a landing page with the abstract or an image of the first page, protecting all rights holders. To read full text, the users will authenticate themselves. There is nothing for libraries to set up – the linking will be seamless and automatic.”
Learn more about using Google Scholar and other advance Google search techniques to discover your family history online in The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox Second Edition. The newly-updated and fully-revised book is available now!
Free Scandinavian Genealogy Webinar
MyHeritage is a leading resource for Scandinavian genealogy research. Now they are offering a free webinar for those researching Danish, 
Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Icelandic ancestry.
On Wednesday, April 15, Mike Mansfield, MyHeritage Director of Content and Jason Oler, MyHeritage Senior Program Manager, will host a program packed with research tips and strategies for navigating the millions of Scandinavian genealogy records now on MyHeritage. Click here to register.
Ready to learn about Scandinavian genealogy NOW? Genealogy Gems Premium members can access Premium Podcast Episode #15, in which Lisa interviews Scandinavian research expert Ruth Mannis at the Family History Library. Ruth simplifies and clarifies the process and reassures us that everyone can have success finding their Scandinavian roots. If you’re not a Premium member yet, you’re missing out on gems like Ruth Mannis’ interview–and more than 100 more premium podcasts like these and dozens of genealogy video tutorials. Get a year’s access
to all of this for one low price. Click here to learn more.
Interview with Christina Baker Kline: Genealogy Gems Book Club
As part of our Genealogy Gems Book Club, author Christina Baker Kline joined us on the Genealogy Gems podcast to talk about her international best-selling novel, Orphan Train.
Orphan Train explores what happens when your own back story is swept out from under you, and everyone around you spends the rest of your life making you into someone different. This happens to two main characters, a young orphan train rider and a teenager in today’s foster care system. What a great story for people who already understand the importance of our family histories to our understanding of who we are.
In our interview with Christina Baker Kline, she talks about her two main characters, what they have in common and how they grapple with their lost sense of identity throughout the novel. She tells us a little more about the history of the orphan train movement and how she became interested in the topic. And she suggests one of her other books as another excellent read for people who like reading about family themes and history. Check out the conversation! And if you haven’t read Orphan Train yet, click here to order a copy. (When you click from our links, you support free Genealogy Gems programming.)
You can listen to a special excerpt from this interview here in the FREE Genealogy Gems podcast. Genealogy Gems Premium members have access to the full-length interview here. (Click here to learn about Premium access to an enormous members-only digital archive of Premium podcast episodes and full-length video classes on Lisa’s most popular topics.) Want to read the book? Click here to purchase it, and you’ll support the free Genealogy Gems podcast. (Thank you!)
