Today's newsletter

[Kate]

Just wanted to say that while offers to Lost Cousins members are welcome, you may be able to download WDYTYA magazine from your local library using Libby. Obviously you can't keep it forever but for those of us watching the pennies it is an option. Alternatively there may be a copy in the library that you can pop in and read.

 

[peter]

Just wanted to say that while offers to Lost Cousins members are welcome, you may be able to download WDYTYA magazine from your local library using Libby. Obviously you can't keep it forever but for those of us watching the pennies it is an option. Alternatively there may be a copy in the library that you can pop in and read.

I guess it's a question of why one reads magazines - I'm interested in them as a source of information, and recognise that something that isn't relevant today might be relevant next week, next year, or in 5 years' time. A year ago I didn't know I had Irish ancestry, or ancestors from Cornwall and Staffordshire. Three years ago I didn't know I had ancestors from Berkshire. Who knows what I'll discover this year?

ALL of the magazines I regularly subscribe to (not just the family history magazines) are available free online through my library - but I can't tear pages out of the electronic versions and file them away. I happily pay to receive copies through the post so that when I need information I have it at my fingertips.

 

[Kate]

Totally agree with you, but a free look is better than nothing.

 

[canadianbeth]

On the rare occasion that there is something in an online magazine that I think I should keep, I just print it using the snipping tool. Until the library changed the site for downloading them I had the print option, but with Libby I have to snip first.

 

[peter]

On the rare occasion that there is something in an online magazine that I think I should keep, I just print it using the snipping tool. Until the library changed the site for downloading them I had the print option, but with Libby I have to snip first.

That wouldn't work very well for me - if it's a family history magazine there could be 20 pages that I want to keep. Typically there will be 5 or 6 pages on a geographical location, 3 0r 4 on a profession or occupation, 2 or 3 on a particular type of records - and those are just the regular features.

 

[Kate]

I wouldn't have room to keep all those copies unfortunately!

 

[Bryman]

That wouldn't work very well for me - if it's a family history magazine there could be 20 pages that I want to keep. Typically there will be 5 or 6 pages on a geographical location, 3 0r 4 on a profession or occupation, 2 or 3 on a particular type of records - and those are just the regular features.

Sorry if I am only half awake this morning but I do not understand how this is different from the advice that you give about keeping articles from the Lost Cousins newsletters. You have said that there is no need to keep one's own copy as all editions are permanently available from your central site, together with an index for easy retrieval. Surely the same should apply for accessing articles from magazines that are provided by the local library.

 

[canadianbeth]

I do not have space or budget for print copies of most books/magazines. I borrow from the library or download to my e-readers. I can read a book in a little more than a day and scroll through a magazine in a few minutes, unless there is an article worth reading or copying.
The magazine mentioned above is not available from my library, and in any case, I am not interested in so-called "celebrities".

 

[peter]

I wouldn't have room to keep all those copies unfortunately!

That's another good reason for tearing out the articles.

Sorry if I am only half awake this morning but I do not understand how this is different from the advice that you give about keeping articles from the Lost Cousins newsletters. You have said that there is no need to keep one's own copy as all editions are permanently available from your central site, together with an index for easy retrieval. Surely the same should apply for accessing articles from magazines that are provided by the local library.

It would be great if that was possible, but it isn't.

I do not have space or budget for print copies of most books/magazines. I borrow from the library or download to my e-readers. I can read a book in a little more than a day and scroll through a magazine in a few minutes, unless there is an article worth reading or copying.

As far as space is concerned, 20 years of articles from family history magazines - perhaps ten thousand pages - take up one filing cabinet drawer. Keeping the articles means that I don't necessarily have to read them at the time of publication, so it's a very efficient use of my time.

I don't have much time to read books and most of those I buy are non-fiction works that I keep on my bookshelves for future reference. If I read fiction at all it's usually while travelling or in spare moments, so Kindle versions on my smartphone work well (they don't weigh anything, don't take up any space, and they're cheap); most are self-published which also means that a good slice of what I pay goes into the author's pocket.

 

[Susan48]

As far as space is concerned, 20 years of articles from family history magazines - perhaps ten thousand pages - take up one filing cabinet drawer

Do you index them as you tear them out and file them, so that you know what you've got? And if so, is the index on your computer?

 

[peter]

Do you index them as you tear them out and file them, so that you know what you've got? And if so, is the index on your computer?

No, I don't index them because it requires a great deal of time and considerable expertise to do it properly. Instead I file them away by topic - it's easy enough to look through the relevant file and pick out the articles I need, and in the process I may make a serendipitous discovery or two.