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Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher
Get Your Research in Order!
Stop struggling to manage all your genealogy facts, files, and data--make a plan of attack to maximize your progress. Organize Your Genealogy will show you how to use tried-and-true methods and the latest tech tools and genealogy software to organize your research plan, workspace, and family-history finds. In this book, you'll learn how to organize your time and resources, including how to set goals and objectives, determine workable research questions, sort paper and digital documents, keep track of physical and online correspondence, prepare for a research trip, and follow a skill-building plan. With this comprehensive guide, you'll make the most of your research time and energy and put yourself on a road to genealogy success.
Organize Your Genealogy
• Secrets to developing organized habits that will maximize your research time and progress
• Hints for setting up the right physical and online workspaces
• Proven, useful systems for organizing paper and electronic documents
• Tips for managing genealogy projects and goals
• The best tools for organizing every aspect of your ancestry research
• Easy-to-use checklists and worksheets to apply the book's strategies
Whether you're a newbie seeking best practices to get started or a seasoned researcher looking for new and better ways of getting organized, this guide will help you manage every facet of your ancestry research.
Stop struggling to manage all your genealogy facts, files, and data--make a plan of attack to maximize your progress. Organize Your Genealogy will show you how to use tried-and-true methods and the latest tech tools and genealogy software to organize your research plan, workspace, and family-history finds. In this book, you'll learn how to organize your time and resources, including how to set goals and objectives, determine workable research questions, sort paper and digital documents, keep track of physical and online correspondence, prepare for a research trip, and follow a skill-building plan. With this comprehensive guide, you'll make the most of your research time and energy and put yourself on a road to genealogy success.
Organize Your Genealogy
• Secrets to developing organized habits that will maximize your research time and progress
• Hints for setting up the right physical and online workspaces
• Proven, useful systems for organizing paper and electronic documents
• Tips for managing genealogy projects and goals
• The best tools for organizing every aspect of your ancestry research
• Easy-to-use checklists and worksheets to apply the book's strategies
Whether you're a newbie seeking best practices to get started or a seasoned researcher looking for new and better ways of getting organized, this guide will help you manage every facet of your ancestry research.
- GenresNonfictionReference
395 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2016
129 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
About the author
Drew Smith
6 books14 followersThere are several authors using this name.
Library of Congress Authorities: Smith, Drew (Andrew Martin), 1956-
Drew Smith has been a librarian in the Academic Services department at the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa Library since 2007.
Drew was born outside Newark, New Jersey (where his father was from) and grew up in upstate South Carolina (where his mother was from). As a child, he developed an interest in genealogy, and he began to engage in serious family history research in 1992 after the death of his favorite aunt.
Genealogical Publishing Company published his first genealogy book, Social Networking for Genealogists. His second book, co-authored with George G. Morgan, is Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques, published in 2013 by McGraw-Hill. His most recent book is Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher, published in 2016 by Family Tree Books.
In 1996, Drew founded the mailing list GENEALIB for genealogy librarians, and continues to administer it for more than 1,100 subscribers.
Drew regularly speaks at conferences and meetings of national, state, and local genealogy societies, especially on topics linking genealogy and technology. Together with George G. Morgan, Drew has been the co-host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast since September 2005.
Library of Congress Authorities: Smith, Drew (Andrew Martin), 1956-
Drew Smith has been a librarian in the Academic Services department at the University of South Florida (USF) Tampa Library since 2007.
Drew was born outside Newark, New Jersey (where his father was from) and grew up in upstate South Carolina (where his mother was from). As a child, he developed an interest in genealogy, and he began to engage in serious family history research in 1992 after the death of his favorite aunt.
Genealogical Publishing Company published his first genealogy book, Social Networking for Genealogists. His second book, co-authored with George G. Morgan, is Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques, published in 2013 by McGraw-Hill. His most recent book is Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher, published in 2016 by Family Tree Books.
In 1996, Drew founded the mailing list GENEALIB for genealogy librarians, and continues to administer it for more than 1,100 subscribers.
Drew regularly speaks at conferences and meetings of national, state, and local genealogy societies, especially on topics linking genealogy and technology. Together with George G. Morgan, Drew has been the co-host of The Genealogy Guys Podcast since September 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
August 29, 2016
I saw this book promoted and decided to find a copy to review for my local genealogical society newsletter. Is there a genealogist that doesn’t want to be more organized? Fortunately, my local Barnes and Noble had a copy for me to assess. I was so impressed by it that I bought a copy. The table of contents is a good way to hone in on where you especially feel you need more help. Drew starts by suggesting ways to organize ourselves. He uses psychology and suggests habit building to make the best use of our time. His different approach to organizing is refreshing. This isn’t the same old “color-coding” filing we often read and hear about. It covers how we use our space at home or office, goals, organizing notes and ideas, files, research processes, communication, online research, research trips, and organizing your learning. I am very impressed to see that it even has a chapter on organizing your volunteering. This has my highest recommendation for a library or for your personal collection. I feel it is worth the extra money for the print copy.
June 9, 2021
In reading a book like this one I am of two minds, and they tend to work against each other as far as my appreciation of the book and its materials. It is hard to tell which of the impressions is dominant, but both of them are present for me when I am reading this book and it is a somewhat uncomfortable feeling. On the one hand, in reading this book I was given a lot of ideas about what to do if I ever make a home office to do my own genealogy research in, as a way of keeping the data and case files organized. This is obviously a positive feeling, and one that leads me to think well of the book. But on the other hand there is at the same time a kind of nagging feeling that this book is written not so much from a desire to help a genealogist to be more organized as much as it is to make money from promoting various companies that sell to a target demographic that I happen to be a part of. It is indeed very possible that both motives are at play, where the author is making an obvious cash grab in this book but happens to sincerely believe in the products that he is pushing.
This book is a bit more than 200 pages long but many of them are pictures or photos and so the book is by no means a dense one textually. The book begins with the author's discussion of the reader organizing themselves (1). This is followed by a discussion about how the reader is to organize their space, presumably in a home office (2). This is followed by discussions of how one is to organize their goals (3) and also their notes and ideas (4). After this the author moves to a more practical matter and discusses how one is to organize their files (5) as well as their research process (6). The writer is obviously seeking to promote themselves as a well-organized person. This is followed by a discussion of how one can organize their communication (7) and online research (8). This is then followed by an interesting discussion of how to organize research trips (9), as that is something I would like to do with regards to family history personally. The book then looks at hoe one organizes learning (10) as well as volunteering (11). The book ends with a conclusion, appendix and index.
Whether or not this book is appealing to you as a reader depends on several things. First off, are you a genealogist? If you are not interested in writing sustained projects about family history that need to be organized and that need proper citations of where one has gotten evidence and so and so forth, this book is simply not going to be appealing. Beyond that, a reader's feelings about this book are going to be strongly influenced by how much they are bothered by the author's apparent sponsorship by various companies that sell products and software and services that can be of help to someone seeking to organize and produce their own material about family history. To the extent that the reader is perfectly fine or fond of such references, then this book will be easy to enjoy. To the extent that the author is irritated by a focus on selling things rather than doing things for oneself, this book will likely annoy the reader a bit. My own feelings were somewhat divided, but the subject matter is interesting enough to give this book a cautious and at least partial recommendation.
This book is a bit more than 200 pages long but many of them are pictures or photos and so the book is by no means a dense one textually. The book begins with the author's discussion of the reader organizing themselves (1). This is followed by a discussion about how the reader is to organize their space, presumably in a home office (2). This is followed by discussions of how one is to organize their goals (3) and also their notes and ideas (4). After this the author moves to a more practical matter and discusses how one is to organize their files (5) as well as their research process (6). The writer is obviously seeking to promote themselves as a well-organized person. This is followed by a discussion of how one can organize their communication (7) and online research (8). This is then followed by an interesting discussion of how to organize research trips (9), as that is something I would like to do with regards to family history personally. The book then looks at hoe one organizes learning (10) as well as volunteering (11). The book ends with a conclusion, appendix and index.
Whether or not this book is appealing to you as a reader depends on several things. First off, are you a genealogist? If you are not interested in writing sustained projects about family history that need to be organized and that need proper citations of where one has gotten evidence and so and so forth, this book is simply not going to be appealing. Beyond that, a reader's feelings about this book are going to be strongly influenced by how much they are bothered by the author's apparent sponsorship by various companies that sell products and software and services that can be of help to someone seeking to organize and produce their own material about family history. To the extent that the reader is perfectly fine or fond of such references, then this book will be easy to enjoy. To the extent that the author is irritated by a focus on selling things rather than doing things for oneself, this book will likely annoy the reader a bit. My own feelings were somewhat divided, but the subject matter is interesting enough to give this book a cautious and at least partial recommendation.
February 23, 2023
Well there are plenty of useful tidbits and good advice in here, it reads like a For Dummies guide aimed at people who are truly starting with little-to-no experience with genealogy or technology... or life.
Mostly it's a collection of good advice fed to you in between extensive "here's how to use an email application" guides and advertisements for Evernote. (Seriously, I hope the author got well paid for the constant Evernote propaganda, otherwise yikes)
Mostly it's a collection of good advice fed to you in between extensive "here's how to use an email application" guides and advertisements for Evernote. (Seriously, I hope the author got well paid for the constant Evernote propaganda, otherwise yikes)
December 13, 2017
Very good. The kind of book where rereading sections periodically is very useful: reminders of possibilities and just plain enjoyable reading. I wish it had more actual examples of Smith's using the techniques/software over time, ie, as a project proceeds, instead of screen shots of empty forms at the beginning of a project.
April 16, 2018
An easy read and provides good information where to start. If I had found this book earlier it would have been more useful. As an individual whose been working on Genealogy for over 5 years the information provided were things I already knew/have.
overall a good starting place if your new to research!
overall a good starting place if your new to research!
May 14, 2017
I took several detailed notes as I read this book which I most definitely be using. It covers many aspects of researching that I found to be logical and useful. I would highly recommend this!
August 16, 2017
I began doing genealogy at the age of 13, carrying a notebook around and asking everyone I knew questions about the family. The problem as an adult is when I go back and look at those early notes, there's no way to know who told me what or where the information came from, making it impossible to go back to the source to get further information.
Genealogy is a wonderful hobby with many benefits, but for anyone who whether dabbles in exploring their ancestors or someone who spends hours a week searching their familial patterns, becoming overwhelmed appears quickly if we don't develop an organizational system. Author Drew Smith doesn't write a step - by - step guide to tell us how to set up our electronic or paper files (although some suggestions are included). Instead he suggests an overall way of thinking productively about completing genealogy projects.
Each chapter focuses on another aspect of the organization process, including organizing your organizing your notes and ideas, organizing your files, organizing your communication, organizing your online research, organizing your research trips, and organizing your learning. I was surprised to find that Drew Smith began the book by discussing the benefits of organizing yourself, your space, and your goals.
This is a great book for anyone interested in genealogy.
Genealogy is a wonderful hobby with many benefits, but for anyone who whether dabbles in exploring their ancestors or someone who spends hours a week searching their familial patterns, becoming overwhelmed appears quickly if we don't develop an organizational system. Author Drew Smith doesn't write a step - by - step guide to tell us how to set up our electronic or paper files (although some suggestions are included). Instead he suggests an overall way of thinking productively about completing genealogy projects.
Each chapter focuses on another aspect of the organization process, including organizing your organizing your notes and ideas, organizing your files, organizing your communication, organizing your online research, organizing your research trips, and organizing your learning. I was surprised to find that Drew Smith began the book by discussing the benefits of organizing yourself, your space, and your goals.
This is a great book for anyone interested in genealogy.
May 18, 2024
Drew Smith, one of the "Genealogy Guys" and librarian, gives us exactly what the title says. This one isn't about doing genealogical research. But, he includes a well laid out discussion of ways to optimize routines, office space, going paperless, continuing education, travel plans, time management, and more. Although published in 2016, he mainly discusses well-known software and websites that are still around. He even reminded me of some I used in my working past that I agree are good organizational tools, even when setting up holiday dinners with extended families (not just doing genealogy!). I was inspired to start cleaning up some of my files, emails, physical space, etc., gradually...
Use of examples was helpful, in addition to the discussion of alternatives. My only real criticism is one I have mentioned about other books published by this company; the size of the font is small. Since many folks don't even get serious about family history work until middle age (farsightedness) or later, a slightly larger font would definitely be more helpful. But the content here is definitely worth checking for anyone considering the above topics and/or project management, not just genealogists.
Use of examples was helpful, in addition to the discussion of alternatives. My only real criticism is one I have mentioned about other books published by this company; the size of the font is small. Since many folks don't even get serious about family history work until middle age (farsightedness) or later, a slightly larger font would definitely be more helpful. But the content here is definitely worth checking for anyone considering the above topics and/or project management, not just genealogists.
October 23, 2019
Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced genealogist, Drew Smith has written a book that will benefit your research. Drew delineates a well-reasoned and well thought-out plan that takes into account, not only the records and papers that we all acquire, but also the researcher! He sets out a plan to put us in the best possible position to get work done, from staying hydrated and well nourished to setting up our office, or corner of the room.
In addition to ourselves, he divides the book goals, files and most useful for me, how to set up a research plan. My research has always been rather helter-skelter. Drew defines how to go about getting a plan in order, questions to ask and how to go about implementing the plan. Perhaps using Drew's methods, I can finally find my great-grandfather's death certificate.
All in all, this is a super book that should lead us all into better genealogy practices. Well done, Drew!
In addition to ourselves, he divides the book goals, files and most useful for me, how to set up a research plan. My research has always been rather helter-skelter. Drew defines how to go about getting a plan in order, questions to ask and how to go about implementing the plan. Perhaps using Drew's methods, I can finally find my great-grandfather's death certificate.
All in all, this is a super book that should lead us all into better genealogy practices. Well done, Drew!
January 19, 2018
Genealogy has been my primary hobby for about 50 years.
I'm not awfully well organized. The organization I do have
is really outdated, according to this book. I need to move
to the digital age. I do have extensive database material,
but that's about it.
This author uses websites and the cloud to keep everything
well-organized and available on all kinds of devices. He's
a professional, and he knows what he's doing. His descriptions
are to-the-point and can be followed if one puts one's energy
into it. The book is remarkable.
For example, the author has a checklist of everything you need
to take with you when you go on a research trip. And he has
a list of things to do when planning a genealogy seminar.
And following his directions, you will never lose any of your
digital material.
If you are serious about genealogy, this is the book you need.
I'm not awfully well organized. The organization I do have
is really outdated, according to this book. I need to move
to the digital age. I do have extensive database material,
but that's about it.
This author uses websites and the cloud to keep everything
well-organized and available on all kinds of devices. He's
a professional, and he knows what he's doing. His descriptions
are to-the-point and can be followed if one puts one's energy
into it. The book is remarkable.
For example, the author has a checklist of everything you need
to take with you when you go on a research trip. And he has
a list of things to do when planning a genealogy seminar.
And following his directions, you will never lose any of your
digital material.
If you are serious about genealogy, this is the book you need.
July 20, 2018
This book gives plenty of helpful ideas and alternatives, also offering various apps and websites to help you not only directly with genealogy, but with the entire process of organization. It even starts with organizing yourself including health and habits. It covers just about anything that you need to organize including space, goals, ideas, projects, learning, files, research, and even volunteering. It is probably a good idea to read it jotting down notes about various tools and strategies and checking them out, deciding which suit your style. Then go back and rediscover things and refine the methods to your madness. As with any organization process, an open mind and flexibility in adjusting and learning new tools and techniques help you become more productive.
March 27, 2023
Drew Smith offers a fairly comprehensive view for the beginning genealogist in "Organize Your Genealogy". I wish that I'd read this when I was first getting started! Now, I plan to use this guide to get my research back on track. There are 11 chapters and each covers a different organizational need, such as notes, the research process, and online research. At least 5 years have passed since this was published and it does need some minor updating. Ex. GenForum still exist but has little activity. #genealogyresearch #organization #drewsmith #familyhistory #researchtools #evernote #genealogist #genealogybooks #familytree
February 1, 2019
Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher is easy to read, filled with good suggestions and plans, and is a must read whether you are a novice or experienced genealogist. The author has had years of experience as a genealogist and his strategies for research are tried and true. He also discusses applications in depth for each area of research with many links. The book also contains an appendix for forms and a link to download the forms from FamilyTree. If you are interested in genealogy, this book should be on your reference shelf.
May 1, 2022
Book Title is Misleading
This book was not exactly what I was looking for. Based on the title, I thought it would be about the tools available to organize paper and digital research. It did include some of that information, but it was really geared more towards preparing for various genealogy-related activities. That being said, there are some good tips, but just not useful for me.
This book was not exactly what I was looking for. Based on the title, I thought it would be about the tools available to organize paper and digital research. It did include some of that information, but it was really geared more towards preparing for various genealogy-related activities. That being said, there are some good tips, but just not useful for me.
February 7, 2019
There are a lot of good ideas in this book. While reading this, I updated a lot of the ways I was organizing my projects and research results. I also appreciated the helpful tips on research trips. I feel like I will be well prepared for my next excursion.
December 26, 2020
Wealth of Information
I got a lot of useful information from this book though some things were a bit outdated (as expected with technology). I especially like the information on using Evernote!
I got a lot of useful information from this book though some things were a bit outdated (as expected with technology). I especially like the information on using Evernote!
May 3, 2023
Some good ideas about organizing different aspects of your genealogical research. However, the author is very focused on specific apps and technological aids, which somewhat date this book, as I'm reading it a few years out after publication.
August 20, 2024
Very Helpful
Drew touched on many stumbling blocks and ways to avoid them. Lots of good tips. I look forward to learning how to implement some of these suggestions to my own research.
Drew touched on many stumbling blocks and ways to avoid them. Lots of good tips. I look forward to learning how to implement some of these suggestions to my own research.
September 27, 2025
Dated (published 2016, read 2025). But recommended by a friend/genealogy "expert". The principles are sound, and it's easy to look up updated software or products.
Also emphasizes organizing yourself, goals, learning, volunteering. Food for thought.
Also emphasizes organizing yourself, goals, learning, volunteering. Food for thought.
Read
February 25, 2018Read this with the intention of doing a scan through the book. It is well worth doing a second "scan".
November 24, 2017
This is a great reference book. I have gone back over several areas as I need them. The layout is great for doing this. Many things about organizing I would not have thought of doing.
November 27, 2018
It's very thorough & covers a myriad of areas to be organized in. I think it could explore other software options, however.
Read
August 20, 2019A little too basic for what I was hoping, with more emphasis on mindset and workspace than the practicalities of organising documentation both paper and digital.
August 31, 2019
A very useful book for those struggling to stay organized as they hunt down their ancestors.
February 14, 2020
Pretty good overview of how to better organize one's genealogical research. He suggested a lot of software and apps I wasn't familiar with and would like to try.
September 7, 2021
Very technology orientated but still a useful read
November 10, 2021
Somewhat helpful in discussing organization strategies. Pushes paid products like Evernote. Some good ideas about label names.
Read
December 17, 2024Good information, though quite dated at this point.
Read
March 13, 2017While this wasn't that helpful for me personally it has good information.
March 8, 2017
This is one that after checking out from the library, I'm planning to buy my own copy of. Highly recommended for genealogical researchers of all skill levels.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews