Ordering obit etiquette

It is easy to tell just by the popularity of this blog that many family historians are interested in researching online. Even in South Carolina many of our public libraries have invested time and money in preparing online obituary indexes. Just look at the list the Dead Librarian has compiled - it is impressive. However, this is a relatively new way of doing research and I am noticing a lot of common mistakes people are making when ordering the full text of obituaries. Here are some ways to ensure your obituary request will be completed:

1. Read the guidelines carefully and follow them. Many libraries limit the number of obits you can request. Some libraries prefer requests by mail, some by e-mail. Some charge, some do not.
2.Include the whole citation when making a request. If the person answering a request has to go back and look up page numbers it will take longer to fill the request.
3.DO NOT send in another request until the previous requests have been completed. This is a big problem. It confuses us into thinking we have already completed that request and it will get deleted.
4.A thanks is great. That way we know the obit was received.

Obituary digitization

Recently, at the Richland County Public Library, we have started to digitize the obituaries found on our online obituary index. We are starting with obituaries, from The State newspaper, of soldiers who died while in service during WWI. We chose the WWI obits for a couple of reasons. First, they are in the public domain. Secondly, we liked the idea of working with a finite collection. Obituaries never end but a collection of these obits will have a beginning and an end. Once we see how the process works we can expand the project.

The other consideration we had was storage. Our Tech Services Manager did not want the library to be in the storage business for the large jpeg files that these images create. He had the idea to put our obit images on Flickr. We were relunctant, at first. However, it turned out to be a brilliant idea.

To take a look at the project go to Flickr and search for "Archie DeShields". It will take you to his obituary and the entire WWI obituary set that we have completed so far. We would love to hear what you think about the project.