Story by Caroline Colvard/Contributing Writer
This story was written prior to COVID-19 being declared a pandemic. The MTSU Library is now closed. If interested in this program, please contact library staff Kristen West at K.West@mtsu.edu
Among the many features Middle Tennessee State University offers, there is now a program that allows students to look up their family history on campus, but it’s only available for a limited time.
The University has recently acquired Ancestry Library Edition as a new tool for students that are interested in tracing their genealogy. According to Ancestry’s own slogan, anyone on campus can have access to “hundreds of years of history in billions of historical documents and millions of historical photos from all over the world.”
Documents that can be found within the database include birth, marriage, death and military records, among many other artifacts. Another feature of the website is the ability to create a family tree.
Upon learning about the library’s newest addition, Jordyn Lee, a junior at MTSU, was unaware the library offered the database.
“I will definitely use it now that I know, because I wanted to do an ancestry type thing in the past, but didn’t due to money,” said Lee.
Luckily, Lee and other students have the chance to use Ancestry Library Edition until December of this year, due to the university’s limited trial subscription.
Students who are interested in keeping Ancestry Library Edition as a resource can fill out a Database Trial Evaluation Form. These forms are located on the James E. Walker Library website under the database trials tab.
If anyone is interested, Ancestry Library Edition is located on the university library’s website in the database trials page.
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