Don't pass up the Resource Center!

This year's Resource Center is a real benefit to researchers, and definitely shouldn't be overlooked. It's a valuable place to spend time studying maps for ancestral towns, reviewing computerized surname indexes, and searching through a wide variety of databases to fill in gaps in your research. It's a "problem worth having" because it's guaranteed to compete with your equally strong desire for attending Conference sessions, networking, seeing films with Judaic themes, visiting vendors and more. (You also will be able to avoid going outside into the August heat of Washington by conducting your research in the comfort of the Grand Hyatt, and still be close to other Conference features you want to catch!)
When you do come by, we suggest you bring a listing of your "research goals" and the specific surnames, towns, or dates you're researching so that you can spend your time more wisely.
We'll have trained volunteers assisting at the Resource Center who also are conference registrants. We'll also have Volunteer translators, skilled in a variety of languages.

What's in the Resource Center

Here's a sample of what you'll find.

• Carefully selected reference materials, specialized archival materials, and maps (laminated and available on long tables) from the hosting organization, the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW)'s extensive library collection;
• 5 PC computers dedicated to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) Central Names Index (CNI). That index will help inform attendees' Holocaust-era research and be a major aid when conducting research at the Museum itself;
• 35 additional PCs loaded with links to websites usually accessible only through subscription or membership; and
• Translation Services located in an adjacent room, with a free 20-minute session, by appointment, for conference attendees.  The schedule will be posted; please sign up at the Resource Center.

Hours

The Resource Center will be open during the times shown below. Hours may be extended, should we have volunteers available for longer periods. Should hours change, signs will be posted.)

Ground rules

We have some "ground rules" and policies that will help you use the Resource Center more easily and be fair to other researchers. These are:

• Books and archival materials can be checked out for use by turning in a government-issued picture ID to be left with Resource Center staff. This ensures that materials are returned. No one will be permitted to leave the room with library materials.
• During peak hours, an individual's computer use will be limited to 90 minutes. Therefore, please don't use these computers to access e-mails. Instead, you may use a computer in the nearby Internet Cafe.
• Eating and drinking will not be permitted.

More services

Although the vast majority of the material available will be in English, if you need translation assistance, that may be arranged.

The Resource Center welcomes your temporary loan of books and copies of archival materials, and bound and unbound family histories. We already have in place a cataloging system for materials brought to share with others. Anyone wishing to donate a family history to the JGSGW permanent collection may do so at the Resource Center.

The USHMM Central Names Index (CNI) will be available, as will Holocaust Museum-trained volunteers to answer questions. This will make it easier for you to understand what results you obtain, or to follow up on your discoveries. We'll also have document translation assistance available. [However, the CNI does NOT include access to International Tracing Service (ITS) records; that only will be available at USHMM.]

You'll find that the Resource Center area is large enough so that volunteer staff, colleagues and translators can sit with users while they explore the Name Search database, or provide help on the other Web sites.

On-line resources

We'll have a large number of links available to both free and subscription (free at the Conference) genealogy-related websites. These will be on the Resource Center's 35 computers, and be available for the FULL SIX DAYS of the Conference. We'll also be providing Resource Center users and all Conference registrants (via a handout in their packets) with a handout listing website addresses (URLs) for more than 120 websites. We suggest that users explore some of these sites, get a sense of their usefulness, raise questions about them, and work around glitches should they arise, while trained Resource Center volunteers are nearby.

Free access to subscription databases

Here's a list of subscription databases to be available for free on Resource Center computers during the week. An updated list will be available at the conference.

ProQuest, free for 1 day!

ProQuest has agreed to provide free access to their numerous and specialized databases on selected Resource Center computers for just one day, Wednesday, August 17. To be fair to everyone, we'll need to limit use of the computers with ProQuest access to one hour per user.

ProQuest databases to be available include:

ProQuest Sanborn Maps Geo Edition (all content)
Ethnic NewsWatch (includes Jewish Newspapers)
Historic Map Works Library Edition (all content)
HeritageQuest Online (all content)
Gannett Military Newspapers (all content)
Canada's Heritage from 1844- Globe and Mail (all content)
Canadian Newsstand (all content)
Toronto Star (all content from inception to current, as available)
ProQuest Dissertation and Theses (all content)
American Periodicals Series Online, 1741-1900 (all content)

U.S.-based historical newspapers
The Arizona Republican, 1890-1922
Atlanta Constitution, 1868-1945
The Baltimore Sun, 1837-1985
The Boston Globe, 1872-1979
The Chicago Tribune, 1849-1987
The Christian Science Monitor, 1908-1997
Detroit Free Press, 1831-1922
Hartford Courant, 1764-1985
Indianapolis Star, 1903-1922
Los Angeles Times, 1881-1987
The New York Times with Index, 1851-2007
New York Tribune, 1841-1922
San Francisco Chronicle, 1865-1922
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1874-1922
Wall Street Journal, 1889-1993
Washington Post, 1877-1994

International historical newspapers
The Guardian & The Observer, 1791-2003
Irish Times & Weekly Irish Times, 1859-2009
The Scotsman, 1817-1950
The Times of India, 1838-2001