07 May 2015

Why Can't We Browse on GenealogyBank?

I have made good discoveries on GenealogyBank. There are newspapers in their collection that other online sites do not have.

However.

It is not possible to easily "read" the issues at GenealogyBank one after the other online like can be done at many other sites. I can't browse and I don't like it.

To read the paper for a specific date, one has to:

  • start at the state list on GenealogyBank.
  • click on the state of interest
  • choose the newspaper of interest
  • enter a date in the search box:
    • a year range
    • a date range

Then use the search results to maneuver to the date of interest. The process has to be repeated for additional dates. 

I tried this with the "Idaho Statesmen" from Boise, Idaho. It took some experimentation with the dates to find something that GenealogyBank had for that paper in 1864. Apparently there was nothing for January through February of 1864. Note: leave the name blank when performing this search as dates are the only search term needed. 

Apparently there are no 1864 newspapers in this collection until July of 1864--and apparently 26 July at that.


Then I clicked on the first hit "Taxes Due" so that I could get to one "hit" in the 26 July 1864 issue.


Then I clicked on "List all pages in this issue" which altered my page to the following:

Then I could browse the other pages in that issue.

But there's no "link" to the next issue or the previous issue--I'll have to go through the same search process again.

And, I can't see an inventory or a listing of what issues are available for a given newspaper.

I use GenealogyBan and make discoveries there regularly, but the site's setup seems to encourage search only and not browse.

I like to browse and I like to read for myself.

I also like to know what extant issues have been put in digital form on a website.

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Readers can enter the "newspaper portal" at GenealogyBank here.