1940 Census will be released April 2
On Monday, April 2 the 1940 U.S. census will be released online on Ancestry Library Edition and Familysearch.org. The difficulty is that it will take six to nine months to index! In the meantime you can find the enumeration district in which your ancestors lived in order to browse the online images in that enumeration district, as long as you know the address at which they lived.
To do this, go to http://www.stevemorse.org/census/unified.html, fill in the state, county, city and house number. The enumeration district number(s) will automatically appear at the bottom left of the webpage. For exact enumeration district boundary descriptions click on the "More Details" button at the bottom of the page.
Happy searching!

Cook County Genealogy

Researching family history in Chicago has always been a challenge. Now you can get Cook County vital records online with very little effort. Cook County Genealogy offers searches of births, marriages and deaths with just a free registration. You can have images of the records emailed to you at standard fees. This link gives detailed information on what records are available. Please keep in mind that the digitization project is ongoing. If you do not find a particular record one day, try again the next month. Happy hunting!

Household Products Database

Are you starting to think about Spring cleaning? Wondering what kind of chemicals are in your cleaning products and whether they are dangerous?

Look at the Household Products Database which comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You can search for specific products or browse by categories to find out what's in a product and how those chemicals might affect you.

Website Wednesday: USDA Plants Database

Now that spring seems to be just around the corner many of us start thinking about our gardens.

"The PLANTS Database provides standardized information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories."

Learn more about the plants that grow well in Northern Illinois, where to plant them, and what they have been traditionally used for.

Database: GALE: Testing & Education Reference Center

Do you have to prepare for the ACT or Sat and can't make it to the library for a test prep book? Not to worry, with a Gail Borden Library card you can access the GALE: Testing & Education Reference Center online.

The GALE: Testing & Education Reference Center has testing guides for college and grad school entrance exams as well as exams for nursing, the military, and teaching.

If you are looking to go back to school or change your career the GALE: Testing & Education Reference Center offers list of professional development programs, a career assessment test, and a resume builder.

The GALE: Testing & Education Reference Center is just one of many online databases the library offers for you to use at the library or at home.

Website Wednesday: Medline Plus

The National Library of Medicine has brought us Medline Plus, an authoritative collection of health and medical information from the National Institute of Health as well as from hospitals and other health organizations.

When looking for information of health conditions, drugs & supplements, or if you just want to consult a medial dictionary and encyclopedia start with Medline Plus.

The site has resources in 40 languages including Spanish. Medline Plus also has a mobile site and is on Twitter.

Presidents Day

To celebrate President's Day I have picked out some recent biographies of past U.S. Presidents.

My Father at 100 By Reagan, Ron Check Our Catalog February 6, 2011, is the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth. To mark the occasion, his younger son Ron presents an intimate look at the life of his father--one of the most popular presidents in American history. …More

James Madison By Brookhiser, Richard Check Our Catalog In this penetrating biography, eminent historian Brookhiser presents a vivid portrait of the "Father of the Constitution," an accomplished yet humble statesman who nourished Americans' fledgling liberty and vigorously defended the laws that have preserved it to this day. 304 pp. 50,000 print. …More

Nixon's Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story of America's Most Troubled President By Fulsom, Don Check Our Catalog While Richard Nixon left the White House as the nation's most disgraced president, the American people never knew the full extent of his demons, paranoia, prejudices, hatreds, and chicanery. Here, a veteran White House reporter reveals that Nixon was even more sinister and haunted than anyone ever knew. …More

The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football By Miller, John J. Check Our Catalog Miller tells the intriguing, never-before-fully-told story of how Theodore Roosevelt helped to save the game that would become America's most popular sport. …More

Inventing George Washington: America's Founder, in Myth and Memory By Lengel, Edward G. Check Our Catalog …More

The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century By Miller, Scott Check Our Catalog The shocking murder of President William McKinley in 1901 threw into stark relief the emerging new world order of what would come to be known as the American Century. Miller tells the story of the momentous years leading up to that event. …More

The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspape By Algeo, Matthew Check Our Catalog An extraordinary yet almost-unknown chapter in American history is revealed in this extensively researched expos. On July 1, 1893, President Grover Cleveland boarded a friend's yacht and was not heard from for five days. During that time, a team of doctors removed a cancerous tumor. When enterprising reporter E.J. Edwards exposed the secret operation, Cleveland denied it and Edwards was consequently dismissed as a disgrace to journalism. …More