By Patrick Longchamps
Libraries Connect The Library is celebrating there third annual Library week. The event consisted of a presentation by membership director of the Ontario Genealogical Society, Ralph Manning.
Manning spoke on the importance of genealogy and the research into family heritage on Oct. 16.
“From my perspective and the most important reason I got started researching my history was to understand who I am, where I came from and who my ancestors were,” said Manning.
Manning began his research because of the lack of information when he asked his father about their family tree.
“Genealogy is something that really bring perspective into the humanity of your ancestors. It’s an understanding of who you are because of who came before you,” Said Manning.
The speech covered the important aspects that someone would learn looking into the field.
Often people are looking for association to a famous person or to a significant event in the past. Other times they will be looking for any family illnesses.
Manning taught the steps that needed to be taken to begin research along with talking about a powerful tool to search called The Ontario Name Index.
“We discovered that indexes are critical to finding information on families,” said Mike More Provincial Coordinator of the Ontario Genealogical Society. “The Ontario Name Index is the most important index here in Ottawa for someone starting their search on their family history.”
Manning finished the presentation by spending some time answering questions from anyone in the audience.
The theme of the presentation was chosen based on the book called The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro. The book is a collection of short stories from Munro’s own ancestry. It was award the 2013 Noble Prize in Literature.
“We pick a Canadian book each year to encourage the campus community to read more and discuss it,” said Helena Merriam from the School of Health and Community Studies. “We choose this book to bring people together through the shared activity of this amazing book.”