Ontario Genealogical Society Library Holdings

Virginia Gillham is Associate Librarian in the Public Service Library at
the University of Guelph.

The Library Holdings of the Ontario Genealogical Society are housed with the Canadian Collection of the North York Public Library, at the Fairview Branch. Since the North York Public Library has an extensive genealogical collection of its own, housed in the same location, a trip to the Fairview Branch is doubly beneficial.

The material listed in this publication includes reference tools, bibliographies, and catalogues to assist researchers, as well as more than 5,000 family histories organized by family name, cemetery records and miscellaneous relevant pamphlets, guides to off-site collections, and church histories.

None of this material is integrated into the catalogue of the North York Public Library. A separate card catalogue is maintained with, apparently, no plans to automate. This seems an unfortunate oversight. Since the records were manipulated by a microcomputer to produce this publication, a great deal of the work has already been done. With the aid of one of the many “library” microcomputer programmes now on the market, potential users could be afforded much more flexible and satisfactory access to the material. In addition, continuous updating would be simplified in anticipation of the planned biennial updating of this publication.

The reader is told in the introduction to the volume that it does not include “the genealogies stored in filing cabinets”; these are apparently also accessible through a name card file. The advantage to adding them to the microcomputer list is apparent.

This publication is a very useful tool that could be infinitely more useful with some modification. As it stands it will undoubtedly tantalize the interested researcher and precipitate greater use of the collection. It is to be hoped that future editions will be more complete, and that consideration will be given to the more in-depth access that greater exploitation of a microcomputer would afford.

This volume will be a useful addition to any genealogy collection.