User:Beccac1229/Sandbox11

= Updating Guided Research =

Purpose
To keep Guided Research up to date and inform the public when new collections are published or collections are added to.

Updating Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet

Step 1: FamilySearch
FamilySearch > Search > Records > Browse all published collections

Click on "Last Updated" until the most recent updates show at the top.

Look through all of the updated collections for the month (up back until the "Date Last Checked" date) and find collections for countries that have Guided Research pages. Check the spreadsheet to see if the collection is on Guided Research. If it is not, add it to GR, the spreadsheet, and the "Recent Updates" page if it should be on there (if it has birth, marriage, or death information). If it is, update the number of records and if the numbers increase by over 20,000 then add it to the "Recent Updates". To check to see if the collection should be added to the FS Birth, Marriage, or Death Collections link:
 * Click on one of the FS collections and then click on "Collections" to see if the new collection is found when you search that type. If it is there, add it to GR and the spreadsheet and the "Recent Updates." If not, do not add it.

Update the page on Guided Research, the spreadsheet, and add the collection to the "Recent Updates" page. Only add to the "Recent Updates" page if the collection is new or more than 20,000 records were added.

Make sure to update the "Date Last Checked" Column in the spreadsheet.

CHECK YEARS.

-OR-

Open the Publication Report that is emailed weekly.

Also open up FamilySearch > Search > Records > Browse all published collections

Go down the list and look for collections for countries that have Guided Research pages. After finding a collection, go to Historical Record Collections and find that collection to get the correct number of records.

FOR ALREADY EXISTING COLLECTIONS If less than 10,000 records are added to a collection, update the number of records on the spreadsheet (get the record count from the Historical Record Collections page) but DO NOT add it to Recent Updates page. If more than 10,000 records are added to a collection, update the number of records on the spreadsheet (get the record count from the Historical Record Collections page) AND add it to the Recent Updates page.


 * There are 2 ways to find out how many records were added to the collection:
 * Subtract the number of records currently on the spreadsheet by the updated number of records on Historical Records Collections
 * On the Publishing Report, the "Indexed Records" column is how many records were added

FOR NEW COLLECTIONS Add this collection to the relevant Guided Research pages, add it to the spreadsheet (get the record count from the Historical Record Collections page), and add it to the Recent Updates page.

Please note: some collections are labeled pretty generically (such as county records) and so it is unknown if birth, marriage, and/or death records can be found in this collection. To find out, open the FS birth, marriage, and death links on the Guided Research page and then click "Collections" near the top of the page. Try to find the collection. If it is listed, add the collection to the spreadsheet under the correct heading (birth, marriage, death) and the right Guided Research page.

Step 2: Ancestry
www.ancestry.com/cs/recent-collections > All countries

Look at the collections that are new/updated since the last check.

Find the collections that are for countries that have Guided Research pages. See if the collection concerns births, marriages, or deaths. If yes to these questions, check the Guided Research page to see if the collection is already on there. If yes, update the number of records (the number is found by searching for the collection on the Card Catalog) and add an entry on the "Recent Updates" page. If no (and the collection is significant - not just 100 records), add it to the relevant Guided Research page and add an entry on "Recent Updates".

CHECK YEARS.

Step 3: FindMyPast
FindMyPast > Blog > Latest Records

Click on the links to the Latest Records since the last check.

Check each collection that is new/added to. See if it is a vital records collection. If it is not, ignore it. If it is, go to the relevant Guided Research page to see if the collection is there. If the collection is not there and it has over 10,000 records, add it to Guided Research, the spreadsheet, and the "Recent Updates" page. If the collection is there, update the number of records on the spreadsheet and add it to "Recent Updates" (if more than 20,000 records are added).

Have to get the number of records by going to FindMyPast > Search > A-Z of record sets and then search for the collection.

CHECK YEARS.

Step 4: MyHeritage
blog.myheritage.com > "New Historical Records Added in MONTH YEAR"

Look at each collection. If the collection is for a locality that isn't in Guided Research yet, IGNORE IT. If the locality is in Guided Research but the collection is not for vital records, IGNORE IT. If the locality is in Guided Research and the collection is for vital records, see if the collection is in Guided Research. If it is not, add it IF the collection has over 10,000 records. Also add it to the spreadsheet and the "Recent Updates" page. If the collection is on Guided Research, update the number of records in the spreadsheet and add it to the "Recent Updates" page.

To find when the collection was last updated/added go to the MyHeritage > Research > Collection Catalog and search for the collection.

Step 5: Dick Eastman's Blog
Go to blog.eogn.com

Scroll through the last month of articles to find any articles about new record collections or updates on any website.

Step 6: The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies
www.ihgs.ac.uk > News & Events

Click on the latest month's newsletter. Download it.

Scroll down to "Website Updates". Ignore FamilySearch, FindMyPast, Ancestry, and MyHeritage.

Look at the other websites (usually TheGenealogist, RootsIreland, Irish Genealogy Projects Archives, and PRONI are listed). If the collections listed concern vital records for the entirety of the country or a large proportion of it (such as county-wide or a region), check to see if the collection is already on Guided Research.

TheGenealogist is likely the only website to ever have large-scale updates and collections that would be added to GuidedResearch. On TheGenealogist website, it is not possible to search by collection only. So for the link, add Parish Records.

For the other websites, most of the listed collections will not be added to Guided Research because they are either too small or too specific (such as only one parish or rural cemetery).

These collections will likely not have a number of records, so just put an ? for number of records on the spreadsheet.