Hi, I obtain information such as city directory information all the time through my local library using the inter library loan system. Even reference items that are not loaned can be obtained if you request photocopying of certain surnames. Read an email I wrote, pasted below on using ILL, obtaining obituaries and things to do when genealogy is S.L.O.W and you get discouraged. Good Luck. Barb USE INTER LIBRARY LOAN to obtain historical/biographical books/city directories when possible. Find a resource by looking through historical society libraries on-line, public libraries on-line, and from lurking on lists. I've done this hundreds of times and it is cheap and easy.Yes, Milwaukee is more expensive than other area for inter library loans of microfilm, etc. but it is cheaper than hiring a researcher, especially if you want to make discoveries yourself. Find a resource that exists, either from on-line library catalogs, historical society holding, or resources that you find out about from the lists you subscribe to. Then go to your local library and request the resource through their inter library loan department. Their inter library loan department will be able to search for a source of the item if you don't know what institution actually has it, and it will be loaned to you through your library, usually for a short time, in-library use only. Be sure to ask that microfilmed/fishe resources, such as newspaper, census records and some historical books, be sent to a library local to you that has a microfilm reader/copier that you can use. There will probably be a small fee. If a resource you need is reference item only, such as city directories usually are, you can request for the lending library to photocopy pertinent information for you for your particular surname or location. I always include that kind of information on my request form, just in case, as I want to make sure the entire ILL procedure is as fast as possible. If you live in a small town with a library that tells you it doesn't "do" inter library loan or doesn't want to do it (probably because they are unfamiliar with the procedure), try to speak to someone else in the library system who is higher up OR go to the next biggest library (like a regional library) if you can, and make your request there. ILL is a normal, widely used mechanism for obtaining items from long distance. Library systems all over the US participate but costs and availability of personnel to actual perform ILL requests do vary. Getting OBITS: Personally, I really enjoy the excitement of obtaining obituaries myself WHEN POSSIBLE. Try all of these options - they all have worked for me in the past. 1. The obituary daily times indexes CURRENT obits. Go to their website and do a search: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Obituaries/ Most major newspapers have people listing the obits at this site. It will tell you the name of the newspaper if you follow the link to find out. Then go to step 2 2. If it is a current obit, find a newspaper from the area and see if they have their current obits on-line. Many do. There is a list of newspapers at this URL with links to the papers if they have a webpage: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Obituaries/ 3. If the obits are not on-line then write to the local library (which you can find on one of the on-line directory services). List the date of death or better yet, list the obit date and newspaper if you have that information. Offer to cover copy costs and send a S.A.S.E. They usually will do it with precise information and charge you a dollar or two. Many will do old obits also or have a researcher/volunteer who works there do them for you. 4. If you are looking for older obituaries, then go to your local library and request a newspaper from your particular area for a particular date range. Their inter library loan department will be able to search for a source of the newspaper and it will be loaned to you through your library, usually for a short time, in-library use only. Be sure to ask that it be sent to a library local to you that has a microfilm reader/copier that you can use. There may be a small fee. ****If you are researching in KS or MN, they have great historical societies that have newspapers microfilmed and list them on-line. 5. There is a list on rootsweb specifically for obituary lookups. The rootsweb information page with links is at this URL: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Obituaries/ There are links to the pages for lists of volunteers for specific areas. If there is not a volunteer listed for a specific county/town where you need a lookup, then you are free to post your request on the list. The URL at rootsweb above that gives instructions on subscribing to the obituary lookup list and it's use. DISCOURAGED? Things you can do! SIX specific things you can do! I've been doing genealogy for 5 years. There SURE ARE up times and down times! There are somethings that I do to help fill in the down times. Some may not apply to everyone but the they all have worked for me at one time or another. Most research I had to do almost entirely from home, as I had small children to take care of. The first thing to remember is that the internet won't do everything we want it to do for us. We still need to use other sources for uncovering our family's history. These things below ALL have worked for me. IDEA #1 There are all kinds of library catalogs on-line from across the country that you can access through the internet. University libraries, County libraries, Historical Society Libraries, State Libraries. Find new resources for your towns, counties, states of interest (microfilmed records, reference books, state censuses, microfilmed newspapers) and go to your local library and request these resources through inter library loan. My library system allows me to request things on-line and I don't have to leave my house. They notify me when the items arrive and I go down and view them. Most of the time there is little or NO CHARGE to me, but your library might be different. ALWAYS indicate what information you need (i.e.. surnames you are researching) in case the library who has the resource won't lend but will photocopy for you. IDEA #2 If you can't go back any farther on your direct line, start researching your collateral lines. These collateral lines often lead to new names, and other researchers who may know more about your direct line that you do now. For more uncommon surnames, use an internet telephone directory and find out how many of those surnames NOW reside in your town/county of interest. If the number is not large, write them all a letter and tell them you are researching your family history and ask for their help. Tell them that if they are not interested in corresponding with you, please could they give you a name of someone else in the family who would be willing to do so. If you get a genuine response from a genuine relative, you may have hit the jackpot. (THIS WORKS!) IDEA#3 Get obituaries for ALL of those deceased relatives. You never know what tidbit of information they might have that you don't have. There are many ways of doing this. Newspapers on microfilm through inter library loan is one way. If that doesn't work, try writing to the local library in the town that the person died in. Enclose an S.A.S.E and offer to pay for copy costs. Usually you get a response and a bill for only $2-$3. It is best to have a close if not exact date. Check the obituary daily times URL on the web and see if anyone in your area of interest has died recently and has a familiar surname. Get their obituary and perhaps it will be a relative (the page and date are included in that database). (OBITUARIES CAN BE A GOLD MINE!) IDEA#4 If you are like me, you MAY have a little bit of genealogical filing piling up on your desk somewhere. A teeensy, weeensy bit? Mountains, that's me! Each time I sit down to tackle my filing, I start sorting out the papers and I always run across something that I was going to follow up on but didn't. Then I do. Try it. IDEA#5 Rootsweb has such a great SSDI that allows you to post post-it-notes on a person's record. Go to the site and lookup up each of your relatives on the SSDI and post your name, email address and US Mailing ADDRESS (in case your email address changes in the future) so that anyone else looking up those people will now you are a fellow researcher. (I am just starting to do this myself) IDEA#6 There may be a query board or two on the internet where you can put queries and surnames that you haven't found yet. I place queries or at least my surnames (collateral lines, too) of interest at every site that I can. If my people lived in six different states, I have a query in each county in each state that they lived in. Here are a few: genweb sites for counties, rootsweb surname query boards, Family Tree Maker's genforum query boards for surnames, as well as states, counties, "Genealogy's Most Wanted," Ancestry's Familyhistory.com forums for locations and surnames, Rootweb RSL, rootsweb's worldconnect. ! Barb bthomas@wport.com