Finding Microfilmed Newspapers: Difference between revisions

[[Image:New York Times.jpg|thumb|left|New York Times.jpg]]Newspapers, especially obituaries, are a favorite tool of genealogists. Newspapers are typically filled with family information, sometimes tell is about a person's education and career, tell us what church the person attended and where they are buried. <br><br>  

But sometimes finding the newspaper you need can be difficult. There are some on-line resources: Proquest for large cities (New York, Chicago) and NewspaperArchive for many smaller cities. But these only scratch the surface; for the vast majority of cities and towns in the U.S. we must depend on microfilm. <br>  

And how do we find the microfilm? We typically have (if we are lucky) a place and a date. Library catalogs usually give us options for searching that include Title, Author, Subject, and Keyword; not very useful. <br>  

But there is a relatively new network of library catalogs called [http://www.worldcat.org/whatis WorldCat], a network of library catalogs. It is also the repository for the [http://www.neh.gov/projects/usnp.html U.S. Newspaper Program] and, as such, contains information about a huge number of microfilmed newspapers. [[Image:Firstsearchhome.jpg|right|400px|Firstsearchhome.jpg]] <br> OK, you ask, exactly how do we go about using WorldCat to find newspapers? Back to the local library; almost all provide access either directly to WorldCat or through FirstSearch. If you go into your library’s web site and find only FirstSearch you will get a page that looks like this; click on WorldCat (circled in red). <br><br> If your library provides direct access to WorldCat you can skip this and go right to the next step. If you have any difficulty with this, your local librarian will be able to help.  

<br> <br>[[Image:Worldcat.jpg|right|400px|Worldcat.jpg]]Now you are into WorldCat, but be sure that you are in Advanced Search, as shown here (again, circled in red).