Periodical Source Index (PERSI): Difference between revisions

Periodical Source Index (PERSI) (view source)

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 The Periodical Source Index, or PERSI, is the largest subject index to genealogy and local history periodical articles in the world. Created by the staff of the Allen County Public Library Foundation and the ACPL’s Genealogy Center, PERSI is widely recognized as a vital tool for genealogical researchers. PERSI indexes articles in 11,000 periodical titles (including 3,000 defunct titles) published by thousands of local, state, national and international societies and organizations, arranging 2.25 million entries by surname or location and 22 basic subject headings. An important tool for genealogists looking for new avenues of investigation, PERSI’s usefulness is not limited to family history researchers. Local historians and academics, archaeologists and demographers, as well as students from elementary to graduate school and beyond, will all find PERSI an important asset in their research.<ref name="ACPL">"Ask a Genealogy Librarian" Service, Historical Genealogy Department, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 2010.</ref>
-[[Image:PERSI search screen.jpg|thumb|left]] The PERSI project began in 1986 with efforts directed at indexing both “current” issues, to be published in annual volumes, and “retrospective” issues, to be published in a 16 volume set covering 1847-1985. The [[Family_History_Library|Family History Library]] made the 16 volume set available on microfiche for its branches, but the print volumes provided the principal access for researchers until Ancestry began to briefly issue CDs containing the entire retro set, all annual volumes, plus additional pre-1986 material. In 1997, the last year for which an annual print volume was produced, PERSI was made available as an online database at [http://www.ancestry.com/ Ancestry.com]. PERSI is now regularly updated and fully searchable at both [http://www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index HeritageQuestOnline.com] and Ancestry.com, although updates to the Ancestry version of the database are sometimes delayed. Under the auspices of the ACPL Foundation, the project currently employs a staff of eight, including a full-time supervisor and assistant supervisor, as well as part-time encoders (indexers), editors, and request fulfillment personnel.
+[[Image:PERSI search screen.jpg|thumb|left]] The PERSI project began in 1986 with efforts directed at indexing both “current” issues, to be published in annual volumes, and “retrospective” issues, to be published in a 16 volume set covering 1847-1985. The [[Family History Library|Family History Library]] made the 16 volume set available on microfiche for its branches, but the print volumes provided the principal access for researchers until Ancestry began to briefly issue CDs containing the entire retro set, all annual volumes, plus additional pre-1986 material. In 1997, the last year for which an annual print volume was produced, PERSI was made available as an online database at [http://www.ancestry.com/ Ancestry.com]. PERSI is now regularly updated and fully searchable at both [http://www.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/index HeritageQuestOnline.com] and Ancestry.com, although updates to the Ancestry version of the database are sometimes delayed. Under the auspices of the ACPL Foundation, the project currently employs a staff of eight, including a full-time supervisor and assistant supervisor, as well as part-time encoders (indexers), editors, and request fulfillment personnel.
-It only indexes family names in article titles, not all the names of people mentioned within the body of an article. It is more useful for researching American and Canadian families prior to the mid-1800s because they are more likely to have descendents who published an article about their ancestors. But PERSI may also help with more recent arrivals as well.<br>
+== Contents  ==
-== How to use PERSI  ==
+Understanding a few things about the contents of PERSI will help produce maximum success with minimum effort.
+*PERSI is a subject index to articles, '''''not an every name or every word index'''''. Entries are by: <br>- Location and record type; <br>- Surname as subject; or <br>- How-to topic.
+*PERSI does not cover surname periodicals and does not normally include queries, charts, fiction, cartoons, or poetry.
+*The article title listed in the citation may not be the actual title as it appears in the periodical. Article titles are not always descriptive, so encoders sometimes alter them to include the actual subject or time period.
+*PERSI has evolved over the years. Originally limited to 50 characters, article title entries can now be 150 characters, allowing for a fuller description that can assist the researcher in identifying useful sources.
+*Abbreviations are used often, but not always. States are abbreviated by their postal codes; religious dominations may be abbreviated by standard three, four or five letter designations; and organizations such as the Grand Army of the Republic are identified by their initials.
+*Terminology and spelling can change with location. For example, a “railroad” in the United States may be a “railway” in Canada. Similarly, a large group of working people in England may be identified as “labour,” instead of the American “labor.”
+*An article title in French, Spanish, German, Dutch, etc., indicates an article in that language.
+*More than 60 people have been employed by the project over the years. Although guidelines have improved in this time, the encoding process remains a very subjective one. Encoders and editors strive to make citations as user-friendly as possible, but researchers must also exercise creativity in their searches.
+How to use PERSI
 *Open PERSI on the Internet. For the HeritageQuest version, click [http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/hqoweb/library/do/persi '''Search PERSI'''].