Ancestry and Heritage Quest

The Northfield Public Library has subscriptions to 2 genealogy databases.  Ancestry.com (Library Edition) is available only in the library. With this you have access to all kinds of records: Census (State and federal), immigration, tax, church, marriage, death, military, newspapers, directories, etc. Records are being added all  the time and from other countries as well.
HeritageQuest has a variety of records but the main thing is you can access the federal census (most of it) from home with your library card.

The provider of Ancestry and HQ is ProQuest. Check out their online - FREE - webinars on using these resources.Some of the webinars have a U.S., UK and Ireland or Canadian focus. Click here to link to their webinar page.

Remember that the library has a computer dedicated to genealogy use. There is no sign up - just first come - first served. You can stay 2 hours or longer if no one is waiting to use.

Questions?
Call the reference desk at 507-645-1802

Vintage Band Festival concerts @ the Library

The Northfield Library will host 2 band concerts soon which are a part of the 2013 Vintage Band Festival.
On Thursday Aug. 1 at 12:00 noon the Original Drachenfedler Musikanten  will perform. This quartet from Germany are masters of the polka and feature a tenor horn, trumpet, tuba and accordion.

On Saturday Aug. 3 the Kentucky Baroque Trumpets will perform at 2:00 PM. . This group plays cavalry music, dance music, duets, solos and trumpets with voice.

Both concerts will be held outdoors on the lawn at the library. In case of rain the concerts will be held indoors upstairs at the library. For more information on these concerts and others, go to the festival website

http://vintagebandfestival.org/festival/

Summer at the library

It's official.
Summer is here.
Sort of.
You wouldn't know it by the weather but school's out,  the City Pool opened this week and vacations are getting planned.
The library can help you have a great summer in so many ways.

Summer Reading Club for kids
Movies for rainy days
Audio books for long car rides
Travel books for planning
Books to give you inspiration in your garden
Books to help you build a deck or patio
Downloadable e-books and audiobooks for your trips abroad or just up to the  lake

And the best thing about all this? It's free with your library card!! Come on down!

A Mix of New Books

Check out this eclectic mix of new books at the Northfield Library

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personal Archiving for Digital Files

If someone asks you how you save your digital files or photos and you say "well, it's on my desktop", it's time to talk about how to really save your digital files.  I went to a technology conference recently and attended a workshop on personal digital archiving and found out very quickly that saving on your desktop is NOT really saving your files. It really is a scary thought for those of us who aren't tech experts. What to do?
The Library of Congress has a great website on personal archiving of digital files
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/
There are great tips on preserving digital photos, audio, videos, email and websites.
Some of us have worried for years about preserving family photos and other family paper documents.  And that is still a concern.  But now it seems everything is digital.  Our photos are on our computers, in our phones  or on our cameras which can all be lost or damaged.  Again, a scary thought for someone who has MANY albums of family photos but hasn't printed a photo in a decade.

Northfield and the Digital Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America ( http://dp.la/)  was launched on April 18 and includes digital collections from institutions like the Smithsonian, the National Archives, Library of Congress and the Minnesota Digital Library (which will serve as a “digital hub” for our region).  Instead of being a repository, the DPLA will be more of an “aggregator” of existing digital content and part of a movement to further digitize other special collections in the U.S.  The purpose of the DPLA is to bring together all of the riches of America’s libraries, archives, historical societies and museums and make them available to everyone for free. Initial funding of $5 million comes from the Sloan Foundation, the NEH and others.

 How does Northfield fit into the grand scheme of things?  The Northfield Historical Society has been submitting digital items to the Minnesota Digital Library (Minnesota Reflections) for some time now. A current search in DPLA for “Northfield, Minnesota” yields 792 hits.  It’s exciting that our little town is a part of this big effort.

 

On a side note, the Northfield History Collaborative, (of which the Northfield Library is a member) founded in 2007, began with a similar vision – digitizing and making accessible the records of Northfield history.  There is some overlap of what’s on the collaborative website (http://northfieldhistorycollaborative.org/)  and the Minnesota Reflections site (http://reflections.mndigital.org/).  

Check out all of these great websites for Northfield, Minnesota and U.S. history.

 

Hardy Roses for Minnesota Gardens

On Wednesday April 24 the Northfield Public Library welcomes Jim Beardsley of the Minnesota Rose Society.  Mr. Beardsley, who has been growing roses since 1980 and has 200 roses in his own garden, is a Master Rosarian and accredited Rose Judge for the American Rose Society.  He will present a program on hardy roses for Minnesota gardens.  This program is free and open to the public.  For more information or to make disability arrangements please call the library at 507-645-6606.