Utilizing the Digital Public Library of America and the HathiTrust Digital Library for Family History Research

Class Description

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and the HathiTrust Digital Library are two relatively new innovative resources to incorporate into your family history research. Both house and provide gateways to consortia-shared rich digitized collections that can be accessed online and on your mobile devices for free. Well-designed navigation and collection organization, combined with advanced search and discovery features, make it easy to quickly and effectively locate materials relevant to your research focus. DPLA’s mapping and time-focused features make it possible for those not so familiar with a particular era or geographic region to gain a better understanding of the types of records available for different places and times. HathiTrust’s innovative reading features make it easy to quickly locate your ancestors in its extensive collection of public domain published family histories and historical materials

You will walk away from this lecture with two new favorite websites for your research toolkit.

Learning Objectives

• Gain familiarity with navigating, browsing, and searching both websites.
• Gain familiarity with the types of record collections available from both websites.
• Learn about the mobile-friendly features available from both websites.

Class Summary

• Format: Instructional lecture.
• Length: 60 minutes, including Q&A.
• Audience: Genealogists and family historians.
• Experience: Beginners, strong beginners, intermediate, advanced.