Rough around the Edges

My GeniAus' Hangouts on Air are, like me, a bit rough around the edges.

Each time I start a Hangout I seem to have some sort of technology glitch. In this week's Hangout the invitations I sent out for people to join the panel did not work so with three minutes to go before the Hangout was due to start I cancelled it and scheduled another which allowed some panelists to join me. Apologies to those who couldn't join, time was of the essence and I just had to get on with the show.

During the Hangouts sometimes there is an echo because someone (I'm guilty here) doesn't mute themselves while others are speaking, sometimes panelists forget to unmte themselves and  are just talking heads when responding to questions so I have to remind them to unmute themselves. Sharing computer screens creates issues as we wait for them to appear, sometimes my screen freezes and conversation halts so we have periods of silence. I do get stressed at these times but  I don't worry because it is all part of a learning experience.

What is gratifying is that those who are viewing have become quite competent at contributing to the conversation by comments during the live sessions. To do this you must be a member of the GeniAus Community on Google+. I do it this way so that we have a private forum in which to converse, only those whom I approve for membership of the community make and view comments but anyone can watch the sessons via my Youtube Channel.

What the panelists and I are doing is having an enlightening conversation on a genealogy topic and a practical learning session (on mastering the Hangout software) concurrently. I am so proud of those brave souls who put their hands up to join me as panelists and share my learning journey. If you haven't tried a Hangout yet please get yourself a headset and give it a go.

This prattling is by way of an apology for the quality of some of the hangouts I present but I will keep plugging on as they appear to fill a need (96 peple have watched the last recording on Youtube already). Apologies done here is this week's Hangout - Let's get Organised.

State Library Workshop

On Monday I attended a workshop, Tracing Irish Ancestry, at the State Library of NSW, an

Fellow attendee, Sharon, with her booklet

institution that I love.

The blurb for the talk that was supported by the Consulate General of Ireland in Sydney stated:

Do you have Irish Ancestry? Join us for an introduction to resources for tracing your Irish roots including eresources, books and original materials. We will have some of this material on display. At the end of workshop we will take you on a tour of the family history area and the Mitchell Library.

I was prepared for a beginner level presentation and attended because I believe that one will always learn something new and be reminded of resources that one hasn't consulted in a while. 

The first hour of the talk was presented by a librarian who read from a script and didn't appear to know her topic. However, Nina, the librarian from the Mitchell Library, who presented the second half of the talk really knew her stuff. She spoke off the cuff and used her slides to illustrate her talk, it was evident that she loved her work. I was going to bail out after the first half of the workshop but am so pleased that I stayed. 

After the talk we were given an opportunity to look at a selection of the treasures available to researchers in the Mitchell Library. We were then taken on a tour to the Mitchell Library where Nina showed us some of the card catalogues there that have not yet been digitised and which contain a wealth of references to ordinary early Australians. A ride in an elevator took us down to one of the five underground levels where resources are housed in climate controlled comfort before we were brought back up to the Family History area of the library for an overview of the resource there. I noted that some changes had been made since my last visit earlier this year.

Thanks to the Irish Consul for supporting this event and for the useful booklet "Tracing your ancestors in Ireland" that was distributed to attendees. Thanks also to The State Library for making this event possible.

Nina, a Mitchell librarian

Treasures from the Mitchell

A convict's Ticket of Leave from the Mitchell collection