Top ten genealogical repositories in America -- have you been there?

In a recent FamilySearch Blog post on 25 October 2010, DiltsGD offered a list of the top ten genealogical repositories.There is no doubt that the libraries on the list offer hugegenealogical resources, but the most important question for researchersis how accessible are the collections? What access is there to the vaststored material? How much of what the library contains is originalsource documentation and how much is just copies of what is availablefrom other libraries? None of these questions is easy to answer.

One way of looking at the collections is to rate them by the level ofavailability. For example, the Library of Congress is undoubtedly thelargest library in the U.S. but how available are it contents to thegeneral public (including all the genealogists)? Not very. The hugecollection in Washington D.C. and surrounding areas is not generallyavailable outside the library. A search of the Library of Congresswebsite on the term "interlibrary loan"returns no results. Likewise, the Family History Library has limitedprovisions for sharing its materials outside of the library itself inSalt Lake City, Utah.

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Top ten genealogical repositories in America -- have you been there?

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