Katie's post and thoughts about digital resources and libraries

Katie, I thought it was interesting that you brought up the idea of uses and practicality of digital history, especially the thought that now there are so many resources--maybe TOO many resources which make it tempting to just grab information here and there and draw quick conclusions. I think the internet in general has made this more of a temptation. I used to work in the genealogy collection at the State Library in Austin. Working there made me realize how quick some people were to go to a website, purposely pick and choose what they wanted to believe, or inadvertently perpetuate false information. What I mean is, often people would come in, find their lineage on an internet site and accept it as fact. It was easy. Maybe this is how some would see digital history--resources made too available for people to pick and choose. I disagree, though. I think digital resources are wonderful because they do save time and money in terms of travel expenses or even access to materials. I think we just have to be careful as we always are in our research. Who is providing the resource. Is the resources being provided in its entirety or in parts? Why or why not?

These thoughts led me to think about the United States Census. People used to spend countless hours looking through book indices or using soundex to find their ancestors. Then it was off to the microfilm cabinets to look at the censuses. Now, sites like Ancestry.com have digitized all these census images providing easy access for those who can access the site via a subscription. So on one hand, these resources are now more accessible to people (those who could not travel to a library in order to look at microfilm), and can be conveniently printed out from one's home computer. However, the State Library's genealogy collection has suffered tremendously in terms of patron loss because of digitized resources so easily accessible elsewhere. This is just something to think about--how digitilization has impacted libraries.