Librarians Day launches family history gathering

Libraries and genealogy go hand in hand.

Genealogy

is consistently one of the top two or three areas of content librarians

are asked about, says Paul Nauta, FamilySearch Public Affairs Manager,

whether they are at libraries big or small.

So

it has become a tradition at annual meetings of the National

Genealogical Society to kick things off with Librarians Day, says

William Forsyth, with ProQuest, sponsor of this year's event.

The

day's session is designed for public and academic librarians, for

genealogical and family history librarians, for archivists, for anyone

who might be asked to help patrons in this area, he says, whether or

not genealogy is their specialty.

\"It is also traditional to tour local depositories so librarians will know what resources are available and how to use them.\"

Morning

sessions for 2010 Librarians Day were held Monday at the Joseph Smith

Memorial Building; afternoon tours took conference attendees to the

Family History Library and the new Church History Library.

The

National Genealogical Society is meeting in Salt Lake City for only the

second time in the past 25 years. This year's gathering, which

officially starts today at the Salt Palace, is expected to be one of

the largest ever in the United States, with more than 2,000 attendees,

100 speakers, 180 lectures and workshops, and 123 exhibitors.

Special

events throughout the week will include a multimedia tribute to family

history featuring historian David McCullough, the Mormon Tabernacle

Choir and Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of the Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

There

will also be a Family History Consultant Fireside with Elder Allan F.

Packer of the First Quorum of the Seventy, an open house and extended

research hours at the Church History Library, a kids camp, a virtual

tour of the world-famous Granite Mountain Records Vault, free

\"Ask-an-Expert\" family consultations by the Utah Genealogical

Association and more.

Starting

things off on Librarians Day was James Sweany, head of the Local