Over the month of October, I attended the ALA eCourse “Genealogical Research for Librarians”. Each week, I was given the opportunity to explore a number of public records as well as free and proprietary resources that help people uncover the past and make connections in their family trees.

One of the most interesting things that the instructor pointed out was that, what a DNA test says and what a genealogical record says may be two different things. I found this to be an insightful point to keep in mind when engaging with a patron doing genealogical research.

This course has renewed by own personal interest in my family’s history while also renewing the hope that we, as a library and community resource, can better assist our patrons in discovering and telling their family stories, and thus finding more of our shared community connections.