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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Have <i>Who do You Think You Are</i> and <i>Finding Your Roots</i> TV shows brought in a constant stream of people searching their ancestors? Why not make you and your patron’s life easier by organizing your local dead people and indexing them into the Ohio Obituary Index?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Make your genealogical collection a source of revenue by being a part of the web-based Ohio Obituary Index, <a href="http://www.rbhayes.org/index">www.rbhayes.org/index</a><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Univers Condensed"'>,<b> </b></span>The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center hosts this award-winning web site that you can join, along with 50 other Ohio Public Libraries. Once your obituaries are indexed online people will find them and either come to your library or order them. We are now partnered with <i>Ancestry.com</i> and <i>Archives.com</i> and the exposure to our data has increased exponentially because of those affiliations although our site will always remain free to view.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>The Hayes Presidential Center will be demonstrating its Ohio Obituary Index at the Ohio Library Council’s Expo in Columbus on Friday, September 7<sup>th</sup> <a href="http://olc.org/expo.asp">http://olc.org/expo.asp</a>. I will be there to greet old friends who are currently partners and encourage other libraries to join us in this web-based index of newspaper obituaries and other items, such as local history collections of clippings, wills and estates, funeral records, etc.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Why re-invent the wheel and tax your own too-busy technology department when we already have done the work, created a very user-friendly interface, and attracted millions of viewers? Started in 2000, the online Index currently receives almost 230,000 page views a month (over 2 million hits a month) and is cited as a valuable genealogical tool in books and referred to by over 300 other web sites. At this time, we have about 2,200,000 names in the database from Fremont to Marietta and citations to over 3 million newspaper sources. The Ohio Obituary Index received the Technology Excellence Award given by the New England Historic Genealogical Society. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>For $1500, a public library or historical society can join the Hayes partnership, receive training on how to enter their data, and start inputting their names into the web-based system. The only other charge is an annual fee of $200 for website maintenance and quality control. If you have an existing database, it is possible for an additional fee to import those records into our system.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Check to see if your Library Director, other staff member or you will be attending the OLC 2012 Expo and stop by booth #517 to see the Ohio Obituary Index and the administrative side of the database in action. There will be <span style='background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow'>chocolate</span>, too! If you have any questions before or after, please contact me at <a href="mailto:bhill@rbhayes.org">bhill@rbhayes.org</a> or 800-998-7737.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Becky Hill <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>P.S. We do know that everyone is not genealogically obsessed. Please forward to staff members who might be interested. Thanks!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rebecca B. Hill<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Head Librarian<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Spiegel Grove<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Fremont, OH 43420<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>419.332.2081 ext. 231<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:bhill@rbhayes.org">bhill@rbhayes.org</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.rbhayes.org">www.rbhayes.org</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>419.332.4952 (fax)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Rutherford B. Hayes Center Library is open Tuesday - Saturdays, 9 to 5, closed Mondays due to State of Ohio cutbacks<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>