“Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Tools for Planning a Successful Research Trip”

Gay E. Carter

It’s never too early to start planning your next research trip. Whether you are going on a specific research trip or going on a business trip with a little free time, there are things you can do before you go to make your research time successful. Learn to make the Internet work for you as you look for libraries, genealogical societies, manuscript collections, maps, and other aids in your target area. Gay Carter will use examples from her recent travels to show you the tools she used to make her research trip through Arkansas and Missouri a rich and exciting experience. She’ll also include tips for working on site so that you can be more prepared than Dorothy was when she was unceremoniously deposited in Oz!

Gay E. Carter is the Reference/Documents Librarian at the Alfred R. Neumann Library, University of Houston–Clear Lake. A graduate of Texas Woman's University, she has been with the university since it “opened its doors” in 1974, and holds a Master of Library Science degree.  A government documents librarian since 1980, she supervises the Neumann Library's U.S. federal depository and Texas state depository collections.  She is active in the Government Documents Round Table of the Texas Library Association, serving as chair‑elect in 1990‑91 and as chair in 1991‑92. She is currently serving on the Texas State Plan committee.

Engaged in genealogical research for over 20 years, she is a member several genealogical organizations and is an alum of the Samford University Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research. A popular speaker at Houston area genealogical societies, she was invited to speak at the Federal Depository Library Conference in Spring 2001 and Fall 2002. She most recently spoke at the 2004 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Austin, Texas. Her article on using university libraries for genealogical research will be published in the National Genealogical Society NewsMagazine.