With television shows like
Who Do You Think You Are? rating through the roof, it appears that genealogy is suddenly cool again. But you don't need a professional genealogist to help you trace your family tree when the
State Library of Queensland has multiple resources to help family historians.
The State Library has a large quantity of records on file including (but not limited to) birth, deaths and marriage records, electoral roles, census information and immigration records, as well as historical newspapers and the police gazettes (providing information on criminal activities and missing persons) for customers to browse. You can look through hard copy books and newspapers or access everything online through one of the many databases available to SLQ members. You don't even have to be in the library – with an
e-services card, you can retrieve information from some of these databases off site.
If you're not particularly computer literate, or just don't know where to start looking, the friendly staff at the library can help. Specialist family history staff offer two hours of free research for up to six enquiries per year.
Alternately, you can take a free seminar on how to use the library. An Introduction to the Library course will familiarise you with the building and show you where to find the information you're looking for and how to access it. A similar course provides instruction on accessing the library's online databases. Finally, the Read All About It! class explores the library's newspaper records, taking the participant on a two and a half hour tour of the Tim Fairfax Library, where newspapers, magazines, microfilm and online servers are housed.
Someone once said that you can't know where you're going until you know where you've been. With the State Library of Queensland's family history services, you can find out where you came from.
