ORGANIZING YOUR TO-DO LIST

TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE:-

I remember when I first went to the Family History Library I was able to look at forty to fifty films in a week's time. For those who have been to Salt Lake City, the Family History Library can be overwhelming. The key to success is how well you organize and plan your trip.

On my last trip to the library in Salt Lake City I decided to use EXCEL and I created the following columns -

Floor
Priority
Film #
Title with who what where and when
Family Name or Client name
Results

I used Excel's landscape mode to print all the columns that I needed. I sorted--

1. by PRIORITY--whether they were restricted, vault or "See Attendant"
2. by the floor on which the records were located, and
3. by family or clients.

This method was so effective for me that I was able to go thru 250+ films in one week. The neatest thing about it is that it is ALL on one paper! When you are finished with the film you can check it off and write in the results. I used the following in my results column:

--- F - Found
--- NF - Not Found
--- Missing - Permanently missing from the vault and library (I had one situation like that)
--- No Public access (I had one film that I was not allowed to access)
--- Out - not in the drawer (check again later)
--- PC - Poor copy or quality
--- Wrong film (Need to investigate to see what I did wrong)

I am going to the Family History Library in October and I just can't wait to use my new system.

Debbe Hagner, AG

from "Ancestry Daily News" is a free service of MyFamily.com available to all registered users