Talk:Feedback: Integrating Family History Library Internet favorites

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FS Library Bookmarks The Family History Library maintains a HTML file for all their Bookmarks to Online Family History sites all over the internet. This file is catagorized by location. The file is so large (with 1000's of links) that it is very difficult to scroll down to the proper locality to find all the links for that location. My suggestion is to incorporate those bookmarks into this Wiki under each locality. There could be a sub page for each locality just for Internet resource links. Then everyone could add links to online resources for each locality.

Garysturn 09:35, 19 February 2008 (MST)

That should solve part of the problem of being able to find the links. Would you see this list being made for the country level only or at the US state and British county level? Areas like Germany or Italy may also need to be subdivided for something like this. Would you suggest that a breaking point for any country with more than 100 links would start being subdivided or some other method of categorization?

Is it possible that this sort of link list becomes just a duplication of Cyndislist?

Daudwp 09:46, 19 February 2008 (MST)

The Current HTML file is already broken down by different localities. There are links for countries, states, and counties. I have copied one version of the file and posted it online here is a LINK TO THE BOOKMARKS. I am sure it has been updated since I last copied it but you can see how it is kept by looking at it. Since this is developed and maintained by the Family History Library I think it would be useful for it to be incorporated into the FamilySearch Wiki. There are other web sites with similar links but this list is unique in the way it is catagorized. Some of these Bookmarks often have links to the section of Cyndislist related to that locality. These bookmarks also cover the world and many of the other web sites are dedicated mostly to the US.

Garysturn 10:04, 19 February 2008 (MST)

I would agree. . . it would be great to have those links up to date and maintained by the FHL and the rest of the world. Yes, much may be duplicated with CyndisList and/or other sites. However, how of them are in a wiki which allows everyone to be the custodians (fixing links, adding information, etc.)? It would be great if the FHL used this instead of the current bookmarks as well.

Thomas Lerman 14:54, 4 March 2008 (MST)

I agree Wholeheartedly. We have already formed a team to do this very thing and were waiting for resources to come available to get it started (then the community could take over). I like your ideas and will bounce them off of the team and see if we can't get someone on it immediately. Stay tuned.....

Jimgreene 23:23, 4 March 2008 (MST)

This would be TOO big, but has anyone looked around Linkpendium? Claims to have five million plus genealogy pages linked off that site. Granted most are personal pages, but otherwise we may find sites that the other directory sites may have missed that could be of value to the community and the family history researcher at large.

JamesAnderson 21:45, 7 March 2008 (MST)

I have seen links to Linkpendium and Cyndi's list in the FS Library Bookmarks. Any links to online resources would be well worth including in this Wiki. Even links to the Family History Library catalog for offline resources would be helpful.

Garysturn 09:10, 14 March 2008 (MDT)

I have recently finished setting up the FHL favorites for Wales on the wiki. Go to the Wales page and in the lower right portion of the page is a box for useful websites. Clicking on the "more" link will take you to what was originally the FHL list of favorites. At least one additional site link has been added to what the library staff had. If this meets the user needs we could start to add the feature to other country pages. I am especially interested in Gary's feedback since he started this topic.

Darris 08:38, 31 March 2008 (MDT)

I think the favorites page on the Wales page looks really good. I like the list at the top of the page that takes you to the counties. I do think that the United States would need to be done by each state rather than one page for the entire United States. I also think it would be helpful to move all Useful Web Sitesto this page and just have one link to the Useful Web Sites on the main country or state page, otherwise new sites will be added in the box on the main page instead of under the catagories you have created on the favorites page. Great job.

Garysturn 08:43, 1 April 2008 (MDT)

Favorite Web Sites Used By Other Researchers
Is there going to be a place where we can add our favorite web sites we use when doing family history research? I volunteer up at the Ogden Family History Center and have found many people who do not know about Rootsweb and their GenWeb Project. I use the information found through the GenWeb Project extensively in my research and have found many answers on these pages. Maybe someone has written an article about it and their successes while using Rootsweb. I am sure other researchers have found web sites that help them in certain areas of research that could help us learn more about those sites. It is ok to have just links to these sites, but it would be nice to see why others use them and tips on how to get the most from them.

Ellis 21:15, 26 March 2008 (MDT)

It would be very appropriate for you to reference specific tools on these other websites that you use to do research, and to have links to these tools or pages on the other sites. However, a broad article on just these web sites and how to use them would not be appropriate for this site. We are looking for specific ways to do research in specific locales. To the extent that these other resources provide information and are helpful we certainly want to have that listed under the appropriate areas. We would hope that those other websites provide their own guidance and tips on how to use them. Does this make sense?

Jimgreene 11:10, 27 March 2008 (MDT)

What is the appropriate area on this site for web links or favorites? If you want ways to do research in specific locales GenWeb is great for counties in each state of the USA. If you look at doing research in Coshocton County, Ohio you could go to:

It is one of the best examples of what free genealogy web sites can be found on the internet. Some counties are not as good, but it gives information on where to access records just like the Family Search does. I thought you were looking for ideas to help others do their research and this is just one of many. Are you going to have an area we could contribute ideas like this? I have mostly taught myself internet research over the last 10 years, so I do not claim to know as much as a professional. I only wanted to know if we could give our ideas for good places to do research. I am just learning about your web site here and must explore it more.

You can place links on any page that you want. For example the link to GenWeb for Coshocton County, OH would be best on a page for Coshocton County in this site. If such a page does not exist then create it and put the link to GenWeb as the first piece of information.

What we want this site to be is the first place to go to look for resources and information, but most likely not the last place. We will provide the links to the other places. So don't ask us permission, do what you think is best. If we have someone else who thinks it would be better another way, then try it. This site belongs to the community, and studies have shown that when a tight-knit community is involved they usually always arrive at the best information and the best format. So we provide the sandbox, and the community gets to have fun!! You don't have to be a professional either:)

Jimgreene 19:38, 30 March 2008 (MDT)