Procrastinataion

Today I am the victim of a common problem with genealogy research. When I first started research, I collected photo copies of excerpts from books. These excerpts contain many valuable clues and data. Nowhere on these papers have I cited the book, author and publisher. I thought at the time I would remember this information. Now, in 2010 as I sit here, I have no idea what book contained the information. I have no memory of a visit to any repository that would contain a book with this information.

There are about as many excuses as there are researchers for not noting the source where information cames from. Essentially it is procrastination. I probably had driven quite some distance, or maybe snuck into a library somewhere on vacation. I probably only had a couple of hours to locate my information and copy it. I was probably in too much of a hurry. In my rush to save time I created a situation where I will spend just as much time, if not more, to locate the source for this photo copied book excerpt.

Today I am very diligent about labeling any piece of paper that I collect. I note on each page where the place (repository) where I found the information. Then I note the title, author, publisher and any other data that is necessary to find the information again. I also note the date I visited the repository and then I add my initials. Why the initials? It reminds me that I actually did visit a repository on a particular date. Sometimes I forget where I have been.