Book Reviews 595

network, and library social spaces such as 
common study areas, cafés, etc. So ques-
tion: Do the statistics at your institution 
bear this out? They do at mine.

Why is this a bad thing? It’s not, 
necessarily. Provision and usage of our 
resources and services is what we are 
here for. But when that usage becomes, 
perhaps abruptly, perhaps through a sea 
change, significantly lopsided, at some 
point it does become a bad thing. When 
the monographic and special collections 
lie fallow, their value comes into question. 
We as librarians know their value, many 
of us still wander the stacks in wonder 
and awe, many of us take it all for granted. 
Others do not.

I suppose it is the same with any 
cultural institution. End your patronage 
of the local museum, and the treasures 
of beauty, sublimity, and genius housed 
there may eventually fall from the walls.

What is to be done?
Is it ironic that I think we should ap-

plaud those librarians among us who 
communicate with the under-30 crowd 
using their preferred technologies, in their 
native habitats? Increased library usage 
of MySpace, blogs, and Twitter does not 
necessarily herald the end of civilization; 
rather, it is the first step in communicat-
ing with our clientele on their own terms. 
These are perfectly good tools to use to 
lure them in to witness for themselves the 
rest of what we have to offer. These tools 
can and are being used to promote the 
Good, where “Good” stands for the full 
and rich range of services and resources 
we provide. And just as I, here at mature 
middle-age (although we all know 46 is 
the new 25), much prefer e-mail to the 
telephone, so too do the under-30 crowd 
prefer Facebook to anything else.

So be it. Let’s meet them where they 
live and lead them from there back to the 
stacks. Maybe Virgil, the reference librar-
ian, can guide a sophomore through the 
reference stacks, pointing out important 
works along the way, before delivering 
him upstairs in time for his 2:15 appoint-
ment with Bea in Special Collections? 

And maybe that appointment was made 
through Google Calendar?

Twitter feed #865217: Tpmost flr 
lbrary, lavnder latx glvs, paging 
thru old Hieronymus Bosch rprodc-
tions. Drk & scary like Diablo 3. 
Incred. Who knw?! BTW Bea looks 
angelic…

This message sent from T-Mobile 
Sidekick™ {ts '2009-10-07 14:37:23'}

(I think I just heard an English profes-
sor groan, all the way from Atlanta.)

I remember standing in the grocery 
checkout several years ago, enduring 
the young woman in front of me speak-
ing loudly into her cell phone for all 
to hear:

“Yes. Yes. I painted them last night. I 
clipped them, then I painted them. Bright 
red.”

All this technology and she’s reporting 
on the current condition of her toenails? 
There are appropriate uses of technology 
and inappropriate uses of technology 
and surely one inappropriate use is to 
magnify inanity.

Precisely Bauerlein’s point.
It would be so easy to label Bauerlein a 

grouchy fuddy-duddy and to dismiss his 
warnings as Henny-Penny overreactions. 
But then you realize how true to life his 
picture of the current situation is. 

You realize this when your darling new 
fourteen-year-old stepdaughter picks up 
her cell phone and starts texting—at the 
dinner table.—Mark Cyzyk, The Sheridan 
Libraries, Johns Hopkins University.

Jack Simpson. Basics of Genealogy Refer-
ence: A Librarian’s Guide. Westport, 
Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. 176p. 
alk. paper, $40 (ISBN 9781591585145). 
LC2008-010596. 

Jack Simpson’s new book succeeds in 
meeting the needs of two distinct audi-
ences: those seeking a very basic starting 
strategy for genealogical research and 
those seeking to understand the basics of 



596 College & Research Libraries November 2009

genealogical librarianship. Experienced 
researchers and veteran librarians will 
also find nuggets of information to refresh 
their knowledge of this area of profes-
sional practice.

It is very obvious from the beginning 
that the author has been there and done 
that. Simpson is the Curator of Local and 
Family History at the Newbery Library 
in Chicago, co-creator of ChicagoAnces-
tors.org and teaches an online geneal-
ogy course for the Reference and User 
Services Association of ALA. He draws 
on these experiences to produce a very 
useful book.

What experienced public services li-
brarian cannot empathize with Simpson’s 
scenario?

You have just opened the refer-
ence desk, and already you have:

• a new resident on the phone 
asking about recreational sports 
leagues
• a regular at the desk looking for 
the new Elmore Leonard novel
• a computer freezing up

Into this scene strides a patron 
with a pile of disorganized pa-
pers in his hand and a confused 
expression on his face. He begins 
to speak, tentatively at first but 
with increasing fervor as he warms 
to his subject:

Um … Hi … I’m trying to get started 
on my family history, and I was told you 
have good resources here at the public 
library. I guess I’m mostly English 
and Scottish but maybe also German. 
The German was my Mom’s side I 
think, and then the Irish was her dad’s 
side. But I’m interested in my great-
grandfather on my Dad’s side because 
my Grandpa never really talked about 
him. There’s some mystery there. He had 
the same name as me. He was a mine 
manager in Pennsylvania but also in 
West Virginia, but that side of the fam-

ily is also supposed to be from Ohio, so 
I guess he moved around. He died when 
my Grandpa was young. Then, my 
Grandpa married my Grandma, who 
was also from Ohio, and her family had 
a general store….

Simpson uses this ADD patron as a 
starting point to launch the book. 

As he weaves the basic search strat-
egy for successful genealogical research 
together, the author uses four case stud-
ies to illustrate his points. The research 
is described from a first-person point of 
view; and readers get the sense they are 
along on the hunt for the elusive ances-
tors. Additional information on the four 
families used as case studies is available 
in the Appendices. 

Succinct chapters cover most of the 
basics of 21st-century genealogy research 
including getting organized and talking 
to family members. These are followed by 
introductions to searching census records 
and vital records, published sources and 
archival sources including immigration 
records. Additional chapters cover an 
overview of ethnic and international re-
search as well as using the Internet, the 
resources of the Family History Centers 
and the National Archives, and related 
institutions. Screen shots and record 
snippets are used to illuminate the steps 
along the way.

Most serious genealogical researchers 
have a love-hate relationship with census 
takers and the records and penmanship 
they have left us. However, Simpson 
gives one renewed appreciation for the 
daunting challenge faced by these brave 
souls:

In 1900, census enumerators were di-
rected to record nativity as follows:

In case the person speaks Polish, as 
Poland is not now a country, inquire 
whether the birthplace was what is now 
known as German Poland or Austrian 
Poland, and enter the answer accord-
ingly as Poland (Ger), Poland (Aust.), 
or Poland (Russ.).



Book Reviews 597

In 1930, more difficult directions were 
given:

Since it is essential that each foreign-
born person be credited to the country 
in which his birthplace is now located, 
special attention must be given to the 
six countries which lost a part of their 
territory in the readjustments following 
the World War. These six countries are 
as follows: Austria, which lost territory 
to Czechoslovakia, Italy, Yugoslavia, 
Poland, and Rumania; Hungary, which 
lost territory to Austria, Czechoslova-
kia, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Yugo-
slavia; Bulgaria, which lost territory 
to Greece and Yugoslavia; Germany, 
which lost territory to Belgium, Czecho-
slovakia, Danzig, Denmark, France, 
Lithuania, and Poland; Russia, which 
lost territory to Estonia, Finland, Lat-
via, Lithuania, Poland, and Turkey….

It goes on, but you will have to read 
the book to see the rest. I can really sym-
pathize with the census taker who tries to 
understand and follow these instructions 
but can barely understand the residents 
who have very thick ethnic accents.

Simpson then turns to two chapters 
primarily aimed at librarians but also of 
value to other genealogists. The first is 
called the Reference Interview but could 
have been called Research Philosophies 
and Strategies. The other chapter is called 
Professional Toolkit. It is a combination 
of professional growth opportunities for 

genealogy librarians and annotated list of 
approximately two dozen titles that could 
form the core of a genealogical reference 
collection.

The single significant shortcoming of 
this book results from the author’s deci-
sion not to include a discussion of DNA. 
His reasoning was that “As a librarian, I 
do not assist researchers with DNA proj-
ects because this kind of research occurs 
outside the library, but it is important 
for librarians to help researchers to learn 
the basics of DNA research.” Therefore, 
the author included one book in his 
annotated bibliography but no further 
discussion of this important new geneal-
ogy tool. Excluding a basic discussion of 
DNA on this basis is dangerously close 
to suggesting that a basic text should ex-
clude a detailed discussion of census data 
because it is collected outside the library.

All in all this is a well-written book by 
a very knowledgeable genealogy librar-
ian. The pace of the book keeps the reader 
moving. The information is relevant and 
up-to-date—particularly the discussions 
of online resources. It, minus a discus-
sion of DNA, is a very solid introduction 
to the basics of genealogy research and 
genealogy librarianship. In addition, it is 
an easy read. A couple of times my wife, 
who is neither a librarian nor a serious 
genealogist, picked up the book and read 
several pages before I was able to wrestle 
it back.—Dave Dowell, Emeritus College, 
Cuesta College.

J. Greg Matthews. Literary Research and 
Irish Literature: Strategies and Sourc-
es. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 
2009. 213p. alk. paper, $40 (ISBN 
9780810863668). LC2008-029230.

As its title makes clear, the fifth volume in 
Scarecrow’s “Literary Research: Strategies 
and Sources” series provides an overview 
of resources and methods for researching 
Irish authors and their works. The author 
is a cataloging librarian at Washington 
State University Libraries with some 
expertise in the subject (he holds a mas-
ter’s degree in English literature from the 

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