How to Sell Your Family History Book to Labraries

The more than we pursue our family history, the more than we want to share it with others. But fifty-fifty those with big families still accept limited audiences. Maybe y'all can pass out copies of your research to your iii kids, four grandkids, 2 uncles, six cousins, and that distant relative you institute online. But don't y'all wish you could share your ancestor discoveries with a wider audience?

As it turns out, many of the aforementioned places we pore over records—athenaeum, libraries and historical societies—would dearest to have copies of our research on their shelves. Their patrons would eagerly peruse them. And so how exercise you get your own enquiry into the stacks of your favorite repositories? Follow these six steps.

1. Understand what'due south in demand.

At the heart of most genealogical library collections are thousands of compiled family histories, each of which presents a family'due south lineage, biographical information and sometimes stories, photos and images or transcriptions of original documents. For the almost function, compiled genealogies aren't fancy books with decorative comprehend art. More than typically, they're self-published volumes with plain bindings and applied titles such every bit The Adams Family of Rochester, New York or Descendants of Theo and Abigail Johnson.

Despite their modesty, compiled family histories are the unsung heroes of genealogical research. They unremarkably 
represent years of dedicated inquiry by one or 2 researchers. In past decades, well-nigh were nigh prominent white Colonial families, usually of English descent. Only today, U.s.a. researchers of all ethnic and immigrant backgrounds document their beginnings with pride and expertise in volumes such equally these.

About genealogy libraries enthusiastically collect compiled genealogies, both old and new. "Nosotros have an agile acquisitions policy for these," says Lynne Burke, Managing director of Library Technical Services of the New England Historic Genealogical Social club (NEHGS). "We're always purchasing them, and nosotros go donations—it'south not an exaggeration to say—on a daily footing. People really want to have their piece of work in our library and we're thrilled." In fact, NEHGS considers compiled genealogies so important that it recently printed a ane,400-page finding aid but for these books.

Other libraries welcome compiled genealogies with similarly open arms. 2 of the libraries with the largest collections, the Genealogy Center of the Allen Canton (Ind.) Public Library and the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City <www.familysearch.org>, each report adding them at the rate of 100 or more per month.

Family histories don't just collect dust on shelves, either. Librarians report that patrons—both fellow descendants and not-descendants—consult them daily. In fact, they're so pop that libraries take found ways to make them available to patrons from afar. The Newberry Library in Chicago will exercise lookups for people who aren't able to visit. The Midwest Genealogy Centre of the Mid-Continent Public Library responds to daily inter-library loan requests for any of the 17,000 duplicate titles information technology circulates. The Allen County Public Library'southward Genealogy Center maintains a digital family history annal (find it at www.genealogycenter.info/familydb.php).

The biggest digitization endeavor to date is the FHL Digital Books Project, a free database of 40,000 fully searchable and downloadable books—mostly family unit histories. Several libraries are actively contributing to this try, among them the genealogical centers at Allen Canton, Houston and Mid-Continent public libraries. Internet Annal has even contributed.

2. Create a book worth sharing.

Cheryl Lang, reference librarian at the Midwest Genealogy Heart of the Mid-Continent Public Library, offers these suggestions to make your book more appealing and user-friendly:

• Cite your sources. Whenever you lot present information non commonly known, give enough data about where you lot found it that others can find it, too. Y'all'll find guidance for this in the October/November 2012 Family Tree Magazine and the Family Tree University Source Documentation 101 class.
• Include of import surnames and locations in the book championship, such as The Smythes of Arkansas and Allied Families Jones and Parker.
• Insert a formal title page with the full title, writer, publication appointment and location, and publisher, if applicative.
• Include a table of contents, an index and page numbers. Word processing programs can help you create these.

For more help on writing and formatting your book, consult You Tin can Write Your Family History by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (Genealogical Publishing Co.) or take a Family Tree Academy class such as Write Your Family History or Creating a Family History Book.

After compiling your history, yous need digital and/or impress copies of it. Y'all tin convert your Windows-based certificate into a uncomplicated PDF e-book with CutePDF Writer (a free download from world wide web.cutepdf.com/products/CutePDF/author.asp). To date, merely a few genealogy libraries accept digital volume donations, including Allen County and the Family History Library. So you lot'll still need print copies. But these are easy to generate yourself at local copy centers or through impress-on-demand publishers. Some services, such as Lulu, volition fifty-fifty handle guild fulfillment for you, should you decide to sell your book.

3. Consider copyright issues.

In the United states of america, your written piece of work is protected past copyright law as soon as you write information technology. Consider further protecting yourself past registering your unpublished or published volume for a copyright through the United states of america Copyright Function ($35 to $50). Bonus: When yous register copyright for a published family history, a copy will automatically be deposited in the Library of Congress' Local History and Genealogy Reading Room (be sure the championship conspicuously identifies it equally a family unit history).

Larger libraries may ask for permission to duplicate your book online, probable for eventual digital sharing. In many cases, you can grant this without giving up your copyright (or legal ownership). Reputable libraries aren't out to steal your piece of work—they just want to share it with equally many readers every bit possible. You lot don't have to give permission, of course: You can but provide a single copy and call it good. A comfy compromise might exist to donate 2 (or more) copies to a facility such as the Mid-Continent Public Library, which will go along one reference copy on site and circulate duplicates through interlibrary loan. That way, any researcher who has admission to interlibrary loan volition accept access to your piece of work.

4. Find a fitting library.

First, list all major genealogy libraries, including those we've mentioned then far. Then think of repositories where you establish (or could take found) source cloth for your volume: local, county, regional or country historical and genealogical libraries; indigenous and religious collections; and lineage lodge libraries. Check libraries mentioned in The Family unit Tree Sourcebook (Family unit Tree Books)  and other guides. Search the directory at world wide web.gwest.org/gen_libs.htm or the Libraries, Archives & Museums subcategories on Cyndi'southward List. Detect other repositories by searching the web for terms such as library, genealogy or the exact phrase "historical society" and the location or ethnicity you're writing nearly.

As y'all're looking for appropriate libraries, keep these factors in mind:

• Not all genealogical and historical societies take libraries.
• A library collects books. An archive collects original manuscripts and documents. Sometimes a repository is i or the other, and sometimes it'due south both.
• Large libraries, particularly those at universities, might have special collections on ethnic, religious, cultural or historical topics.
• Public libraries may accept local history and genealogy sections, especially if a genealogical guild meets there.
• Many specialized libraries accept "acquisition priorities," or topics of greatest involvement. Cheque their websites. For example, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Athenaeum <www.americanjewisharchives.org> focuses on Reform Judaism and Cincinnati Jewry.

Allow's say you write a volume on your family's Norwegian settlers in Muskego, Wis. Who would want information technology? Look for libraries interested in Wisconsin (especially the Muskego surface area), Norwegian-Americans, and the region of origin inside Norway. Your list might include the Wisconsin Historical Society (which has more than than 40,000 compiled genealogies), the Norwegian-American Genealogical Association, the Norwegian American Genealogical Center and Naeseth Library, the Waukesha Canton Historical Club Research Center, and the collection of the appropriate bygdelag (a Norwegian county association; observe these listed at www.fellesraad.com).

5. Offer your book.

If you desire to sell your book, write to the acquisitions person or department at each library. Describe why the library will want your book and include pricing and ordering information (including shipping). If possible, include a flier with an image of the volume cover and endorsements from qualified sources. The Library of Congress, New England Historic Genealogical Society and other libraries practise purchase family histories.

Information technology's much easier to donate copies—and it's a more than sure fashion of placing your book. Every library has its own procedure for accepting donations, so call or check websites to learn specifics. For example, the Newberry Library welcomes compiled genealogies in printed, bound form, with accompanying digital data (but not standalone digital data). The Leo Baeck Institute at the Center for Jewish History accepts paper and digital format, likewise every bit any documentation that supports the compilation.

The Milstein Segmentation of US History, Local History and Genealogy at the New York Public Library accepts jump volumes and typescripts, but no electronic formats at all.

6. Look for perks.

Have we made information technology clear yet that libraries want your books? Sometimes they even offer incentives to those who donate. For years, the Genealogy Center at the Allen Canton Public Library has offered a Photocopy Exchange program. If you transport them two unbound copies of your family history book, they will bind i re-create for their library and the other for y'all. (They'll even bind a few extras at a low price if you provide the copies.)

Many libraries will advertise your book in their publications when yous donate copies. In NEHGS' member magazine American Ancestors, a section called Family Focus mentions recently printed genealogies that take been donated to its library. Members of the National Genealogical Society who donate to its collection at the St. Louis County Library receive a free shout-out in NGS Magazine. The Ohio Genealogical Social club offers a similar writeup in the Ohio Genealogical Society Quarterly.

And so book a mental reservation for your family history book on the shelves of the libraries you love well-nigh. Work toward that goal, and one day y'all'll see your own ancestors lined upwardly on the stacks for others to meet and enjoy.

From the December 2012 issue of Family Tree Magazine

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Source: https://www.familytreemagazine.com/storytelling/writing/getting-your-family-history-books-into-libraries/

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