When I decided to get serious about genealogy a year or two ago, I jumped at many opportunities there are to learn. I signed up for lots of free newsletters, as well as paid webinars and classes, books, and other resources. I joined Ancestry, Fold 3, Mocavo, and Genealogy Bank. And I spent a good deal of money at Shop Family Tree. There are no shortage of ways for me to research my ancestors.
Unfortunately, I’m not working on genealogy full-time. I have an organizing business to run, as well as the demands of day-to-day life. I want to both do the research and improve my researching skills. So some of these learning opportunities are lying fallow at the moment.
And here’s where the overwhelm kicks in: I know there are a lot of purchased items spread out over my hard drive. Some are in my files. Others on my bookshelves. I don’t know what I have. If I do know, I’m not exactly sure where to find it.
It’s time to do something about that. Here’s where my resources are scattered:
Hard drive: I’ve done a good job of organizing my hard drive when it comes to research documents (i.e. documentation about my ancestors). But it’s time to put a laser focus on my resources. I’m going to give some thought as to how to organize the stuff on my hard drive. I’m thinking of subfolders in my Genealogy folder, based on subject. But I know also need a way to track what I’ve actually read/viewed and what I haven’t. Perhaps a spreadsheet. But right now I think I might use Springpad, which I’ve been experimenting with of late. Of course, Evernote could be another option.
Book shelves and file cabinet: I have some books and some CD-ROMs and some printed PDFs scattered about. I need to locate them, catalog them, and store them all in one place, where I can easily retrieve them.
Organizing all these resources is a great first step. But the next step is to actually read the stuff, learn from it and apply what I’ve learned! When I read something particularly useful, I’ll be sure to share it here.
I just read about how you are thinking of organizing all your resources etc. I also have many and need to get them organized. I also have paid to join the same resources as you and also a few genealogy societies. When you come up with your ideas, I would love to hear them. I feel so overwhelmed and don’t have a lot of time to work on the tree but try to get so much done every week because I am paying programs that I don’t want to waste. I love reading your blog as I feel we are on the same page on lots of things. Thanks!
Thanks for your comment, Mary! I’m so glad you find this blog helpful. I sure will post here when i figure out how I’m going to organize my resources so that I use them (and feel less overwhelmed).
Hello Janine, I know how you feel about this. I reached this 2013 post via a link from your July 15th 2016 post and wondered how you ended up organising your resourses?
I use sub folders in my genealogy folder and have named them Resources, Research Guides, Useful Links, Research Forms.
I have my research as part online, part digital and a backup of the main families as paper in Lever Arch Files which are easier to add to or reorganise than ring binders.
I enjoy reading your blogs on how you approach and deal with issues. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Hi, Nan! Thanks for asking.
The way things have evolved for me over the last three years is that I try to store my resources in Genealogy folder and then also use Evernote to keep track of them. I have a notebook called Genealogy resources in my Genealogy stack. I’m not buying new courses like crazy like I was back then, which helps.
As far as my research documents go, I have them on my hard drive, organized by surname. I’m in the process of making sure that my sources in Reunion (my family-tree software) all have images attached to them for easy access. I have very little new paper; pretty much the only paper documents I save are originals, after scanning. I just received in the mail my grandmother’s birth certificate, for example, and popped that into her file after scanning. But I don’t think I would have printed it out if I’d found it online.
I hope that’s a little helpful!