I love researching my ancestors in old — or new — books. It’s so much fun to read a book about the area they lived in, and find them mentioned in it, often with interesting details.
Unfortunately, I can’t afford to buy all these old books, especially when I’m not sure if they have what I’m looking for.
My solution? The Georgia Pines public library system! Did you know that you can order a book from a Georgia Pines member library anywhere in the state of Georgia to be sent to your home library in Georgia? It’s called the interlibrary loan system. You may have been aware of it, but not fully realized all the possibilities.
Let’s take an example. I was looking for a book called Lowcountry Hurricanes, by Walter Fraser, Jr., because I know my 4th great-grandfather, John Ashmore, lost everything, including three children, in the 1804 hurricane off the coast of Georgia. I hoped to find out more of his story.
So I logged in to gapines.org, with my library card number and PIN. (See instructions on the web site on how to get a PIN.) I searched for Lowcountry Hurricanes, with the “search within” bar set to my home library, Marshes of Glynn. No luck. They don’t have a copy. So I changed “search within” to “ALL PINES Libraries” by scrolling to the top of that list. I clicked the Search button again, and voila! It’s the first book on the list. I clicked on the title, and now see every library that has a copy.
I then clicked on “Place Hold,” on the right side of the screen. (No need to worry about which library’s copy you will get; they will choose where it comes from.) Now I can choose my pickup location (my home library) and how I want to be notified. I always have them send me a text so I can detour to the library if it comes in while I’m out and about, but you can ask them to email or call you.
When it comes in, the initial loan period is 14 days, but you can renew it twice.
That’s all there is to it! You now have access to every book in every Georgia Pines library across the state of Georgia.
In case you missed the news, the Savannah public library system recently joined the Georgia Pines system!
** And if you were wondering, Lowcountry Hurricanes did not mention my ancestor, but it’s a wonderful book. He’s meticulously researched every hurricane to hit the coast in recorded history using letters, ship’s logs, journals, etc, and is a great storyteller. I bought the book for the background information.
