Sunday, September 28, 2008

Livonia (MI) Celebrates Family History Month


The Livonia Public Library is offering a couple of presentations on historical times/events that may be of interest to genealogists.
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: The Civic Center Library welcomes Craig Mestach, a member of the Titanic Historical Society, on Monday October 6th at 7:00 pm. Mr. Mestach will present "Titanic: The Ship, Voyage and Legend". For more information, call the Civic Center Library at (734) 466-2197.

DETROIT'S NEFARIOUS PAST: The Friends of the Livonia Library welcome Paul R. Kavieff to the Civic Center Library Auditorium on Sunday October 19th at 2:00 pm to discuss "The Purple Gang", the ruthless and infamous Prohibition era organized crime gang from Detroit. Mr. Kavieff has authored four books on the history of organized crime in Detroit, including the recently published "Detroit's Infamous Purple Gang" and copies of this book will be available for purchase after the presentation. Refreshments will be served in the Michigan Room after the program. For more information, please contact the Civic Center Browsing Desk at (734) 466-2197
And also from the folks at the Livonia Library:
DATABASE OF THE MONTH OCTOBER 2008: The Livonia Public Library, the Library Network and the Library of Michigan continue to offer more databases and information for you to access from the internet in the library and at home! Each month, this newsletter will explore one or more of these databases and give an idea of what's available! October is Family History Month, and there are some databases available to you to help you in your genealogical research. Heritage Quest is accessible from your home computer. Heritage Quest has some U.S. Census records, books, periodicals, and revolutionary war era records, all searchable by name. Ancestry.com's Library Edition can only be entered from a computer at your local library, but it is an extensive resource including census information, vital records and public directories from the United States and other countries, drawn from the Ancestry.com website. This is not complete access to that website, but it is a wealth of information and a good starting place for your family tree search. (Also visit our web site at http://livonia.lib.mi.us/genealogy for some of the resources available at the Livonia Library and some links to other helpful websites.) To access the Heritage Quest database and others from home, you will need your library card, but accessing them from any Livonia Library is as easy as walking up to any catalog station! To take a look at the genealogical databases or any of the other databases available, visit the Livonia Library web site at http://www.livonia.lib.mi.us/mags.html.

IT'S FAMILY HISTORY MONTH GET STARTED DIGGING UP YOUR ROOTS: Doing genealogical research? The Livonia Public Libraries offer access to the database "Ancestry/Library Edition", a library version of Ancestry.com available at your local branch. This database covers census records, available birth, death, marriage and immigration information, books and periodicals and much more. If you'd like some help learning how to access this information and use this database effectively, the Civic Center Library will be offering one-on-one assistance on occasional Saturdays. In September, help will be available on Saturday October 4th. Registration for these sessions is preferred, and you can register at the Adult Reference Desk or by calling (734) 466-2490. For more information on these training sessions, please contact Carl Katafiasz, Head of Adult Services, at (734) 466-2480.