The New York Public Library Loves Genealogy Researchers!

Do you use the New York Public Library (NYPL) for your family history research — even if you are not from New York? If not – here is a reason why you may want to reconsider!

I recently gave a presentation to the African American Special Interest Group of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon. The topic of my talk focused on research collections around the country, and the New York Public Library was one of them.  Their collections are helpful for so many of us as we do our family history and I HAD to share this technology innovation from the NYPL team just in case you’ve not seen it.

The innovation? Linked data in their finding aids. This is amazing – and it proves they love us genealogists LOL. Why?

Look at this view of the collections of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, namesake of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. See those lines? Each line represents between the finding aid of Mr. Schomburg and other finding aids in the NYPL collection.

For example, there is a line connecting Schomburg to the James Egert Allen collection.  Mr. Allen wrote a book about Schomburg so the library has made a link between the two finding aids.

This visual approach to showing us the linkages in their finding aid collections is AMAZING! It’s like another representation of the FAN club principle (see this example from my friend Julie about using the FAN club in your genealogy).  As noted on the library’s website, “Linking collections together through access terms, this tool reveals relationships between people, places, subjects and more.”  The linked visualization is part of the library’s “Beta Tools & Experiments” collection.  Isn’t technology great?

The NYPL collection has information from all over the country so go – explore! See what connections you can find with this linked data beta tool.  And, come on over to my online community, Academy of Legacy Leaders, and share your experience!