Hello All,
The ACGS Library will be closed on the following days in November:
Saturday – 11/11/23 – for Veteran’s Day
Wednesday – 11/22/23 – for Thanksgiving Eve We will be open on Saturday 11/25/23.
Thanks
by
We recently discovered that people using Edge Browser could no longer view our PDFs on our website with this browser. Edge change something in their set up that only allows certain file types to be viewable in their browser. But we have found a work around for this. Please watch the attached video link for directions on how to see our PDFs in your Edge browser.
It is with great sadness that I am writing this post today. On June 15, 2023, our former President and longtime member and volunteer on countless committees and projects, Muriel Normand has passed away.
There will be a Celebration of Life event for Muriel on June 30th from 2pm-4pm at the Puritan Backroom Conference Center in Manchester. (I am sure there will be their famous chicken tenders, as they were a favorite of Muriel’s.)
For her full obituary, please see the link below.
Muriel will be missed by her family and fields and all of us at ACGS. RIP Muriel.
Jo Zurwell – President
and the full ACGS Board of Directors
Everyone has been so patient as we worked out all the programming bugs for the new section of our website. The day has finally arrived when I can announce Phase I of the Library Holdings Project is now ready to use!
The Holdings Catalog search engine will replace our card catalog in the library, it lists all the books, repertories, family histories, and microfilm/fiche that are found in the library. When a search is done all possible results from our holdings will be displayed, however not all results will be viewable online. If the “format” is “PDF” the book is viewable online, “Dload” it may be purchased in the sales catalog, and all other formats may only be viewed in the library.
Phase I of this project will have almost 400 books that will be viewable. We have the repertories from the following states available with this release; RI, VT, and some of MA, and NH. More books will be available as we finish each state and have them uploaded to the website. Recommended to start the search wide and then narrow down, start with a state, and then work to the smaller subgroups to find the resources needed.
Once a book is selected and the PDF is opened, you can scroll up and down in the book like you would when looking at the book in the library. An added benefit is that a search can also be done for names with books that ACGS has produced, it can be tried for other books, but not sure if that will always work. Simply click on the magnifying glass on the top right side of the PDF window and enter the name or place.
We hope that our members find this resource as valuable as we believe it to be. Please let us know if you find any problems with the Holdings Catalog at [email protected].
As an all volunteer society we rely on our members to volunteer to help the library to remain open and running. Our number one volunteer position is at the Library Front Desk, without a volunteer to cover the front desk we can not open our doors to our members.
Full Training will be supplied. The tasks to be covered by the Library Desk Volunteer are as follows:
- Meet and greet customers and members
- Working knowledge of genealogy
- Familiar with the library
- Familiar with the genealogy programs used in house.
- Able to help customers and members with their searches
Contact: Jackie Watson, Library Chair for an interview. Call her at the library at 603-622-1554 or email her directly at [email protected].
Thank you for supporting the ACGS Society with your time!
The Society’s Board of Directors approved, in June 2021, a new project to digitize most of the books in the research library, and to make the contents available to our members through the Members-Only section of the website ACGS.org.
In connection with this new digitization project, ACGS is looking for volunteers to help us out!
Right now, two different types of help are needed:
- Scanning – This will require you to run an overhead scanner to scan each page of a book. It takes about an hour to do 100 pages. This job may be done at home by borrowing the equipment from the library.
- Data entry – Several of our books were never entered into a searchable database. This job requires reading a type-written book and entering the data into a spreadsheet. Access to Microsoft Excel is desirable, but we may be able to use your help even if you do not have that access.
All volunteers will be provided with training.
As a reminder, because many of our books can no longer be purchased, having a pdf file of each book would allow it to be replaced in the event of a fire or other calamity. In addition, a digital copy of a book might allow members who are not able to visit the library to read or access it online.
Click here to Volunteer Today, and, in your email, tell us which job you are interested in.
Many thanks!
