Sharing new ideas, resources, knowledge and technology to keep abreast of new development in reference service field

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Indeed.com

http://www.indeed.com/

Many patrons are seeking work, in Massachusetts, and elsewhere.

Time was when the only current resource we had to offer were want ads in newspapers of major cities.

Worcester's Workforce Central is recommending this cite in a flyer I saw recently.

This is only for the listing of available work, not an application, or direct contact with the company.

It will list the website of that company. It is up to the job seeker to make contact.

Please check out the FAQ's section on the site, for any questions.

It is easy to use, informative, and timely.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

OBITUARY NOTICES

I recently gave a workshop on the accessibility of public records in Massachusetts. My primary goal was to reference hard to find, or normally not accessible information, about everyday individuals. In any event, a small amount of the material included genealogy.

One of the websites that I literally fell over was Obitfinder, a website maintained by Legacy.com. The database archives obituaries dating back to 1930 from newspapers all across North America. I counted them - 744 newspapers. Granted, indexing will be uneven but what a gem. You no longer have to tell your patrons that you can't get that information because you only subscribe to newspapers in a finite geographic area.

The information given includes the full name of the deceased; place and date of death; relations; and the date and name of the newspaper it appeared in. There is a small hook. If you want the full obituary, photograph and guest book (if they are available) these are provided at a charge of $2.95. The website URL is http://www.legacy.com/NS/

CMRLS Regional Reference Center, Worcester Public Library, 3 Salem Sq, Worcester MA 01608