The library is a critical part of our mission statement. To be true to our mission, we must make continual updates to keep it relevant to family historians in the county. Our goal is to make the library as “patron friendly” as possible and to have every patron find the information for which they visited the library, or at least learn something useful on every visit. We continually remove technically outdated resources that are available in newer formats, including the internet. We are open Monday through Friday, 10:00am to 4:00pm. Check our calendar for special dates that we will be closed.
As part of our continuing effort to make out library as “patron friendly” as possible we have just upgraded our search capabilities and much more with true library specific software, accessible through the "LIBRARY CATALOG” button. The new software will search over a wider range of subjects and locations and is more forgiving of spelling errors. Browse over 8,000 titles and over 14,000 volumes to see what is available much more easily than in the past . You can search by Author, Title, Subject, ISBN, or Media Type; the most common method is by Subject which can include several words. However, we have an extensive collection of Florida specific military records that are not fully indexed in our catalog that are shelved in our Florida Collection.
In September of 2012 we started re-cataloging our entire collection as, over almost 40 years, inconsistency had developed in classification. This project is expected to take at least a year but will result in finding resources much more easily. Completion is expected in the fall of 2013. Rather than modifying the Dewey Decimal System as so many genealogy libraries have, we are going to a genealogy library specific system (RPL System) which we are fine tuning for our library and patrons will find it very intuitive. Library volunteers have enthusiastically embraced the new RPL System. This will result in some changes in location of book collections within the library but there will be people and material to assist patrons with the changes. For more information on the system, click on "RPL CATALOGING PLAN" on the left, under library.
Some of Our Major Holdings Include:
American State Papers Indexes
Barbour Collection - General Index & Vital Records
Boston Transcripts (Microfiche)
Bussy Collection - Irish Books
Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, 6 volumes
Mayflower Descendant Vol. 1 to current
New England Register 1847 to current
Passenger & Immigration Indexes Vol. 1 to current
Southern Historical Society Papers, 52 vols.
The American Genealogist Vol. 1 to current
The Genealogist Vol. 1 to current
The Mary & John (Passengers)
The Rebellion Record 12 vols.
Vosburgh Collection of New York (microfilm)
Additional resources in our library include:
A surname card file with over 200,000 index cards and loose leaf or manuscript materials sorted by surname, supplement bound materials.
We have "Genealogical Periodical Annual Index" (GPAI) and "Periodical Source Index" (PERSI)
Computers are available with DSL internet capability for accessing free information on the internet
The library subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition, through which we can access censuses, the Social Security Death Index, immigration lists, Civil War records, WWI draft registration cards, etc.
