Sunday, February 9, 2025
The North Shore Genealogy Collective, a collaborative effort among six libraries on Long Island’s North Shore to provide genealogical resources and education to library patrons, marked its four-year anniversary on Jan. 14.
The group, formed with the goal of pooling resources and expertise, has become a go-to resource for residents passionate about tracing their family histories. The collective was born out of a simple idea: to provide better access to genealogical resources without each library bearing the full financial and logistical burden.
According to Lydia Wen, a librarian and archivist at the Glen Cove Public Library, the collaboration began when she realized that patrons were eager for genealogy programs, but that the budget for such programs was limited.
“I thought ‘I’m not the only one interested in this; Every small library around me would probably love to have access to more programs for the same amount of money’,” Wen said. “’So, let’s just pool our resources together and offer our patrons more’.”
This initiative quickly expanded into a thriving collective that includes the Glen Cove, Oyster Bay-East Norwich, Gold Coast, Bayville, Locust Valley, and Manhasset libraries, with each contributing to a broader offering of workshops, guest speakers, and other resources.
Each month, the group hosts an online meeting on the second Tuesday, attracting between 50 and 75 participants. The sessions feature guest speakers, discussions genealogy research techniques, and tips for navigating resources like Ancestry.com. Wen noted that the virtual format, which began during the pandemic, has allowed the group to reach a wider audience, with attendees tuning in from various parts of the country.
The collective is also affiliated with the Genealogy Federation of Long Island, which provides access to specialized resources such as Italian and Jewish genealogy groups, further expanding the scope of the collective’s offerings.
“More and more organizations are digitizing and putting things online,” Wen said. “So, there’s more things to discover, more things to know about your family tree that you didn’t know before.”
For Clare Trollo, adult program director for the Gold Coast Library, joining the collective was an ideal opportunity to expand their genealogical programming. Previously, the library offered occasional programs, but the response was inconsistent. The collective, she said, allowed them to access a wider range of programs, speakers, and resources without significantly increasing costs.
“It’s been a fantastic opportunity, and it’s been wonderful for the libraries,” Trollo said. “It’s been so terrific in fact that we used it as a model to start another group for lectures, the North Shore Library Consortium.”
The collaborative model has paid dividends not just for library patrons but for library staff as well. Marion Dodson, programming librarian for the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Public Library, highlighted how the sharing of ideas and resources has created a thriving community of genealogists across the North Shore.
“We share ideas, resources, and even local history knowledge. It’s been very cooperative,” Dodson said. “The topics are very, very varied, covering everything from immigration patterns of various ethnic groups to how to figure out when someone’s relatives first arrived in this country.”
Through their work, the North Shore Genealogy Collective has also become a bridge between past and present, helping people connect with their family histories and uncovering local stories. Wen shared an example from Glen Cove, where a researcher discovered a relative who had been killed in action in World War I. Through the collective, they connected with a group in France that was planning a commemoration for this soldier.
Such connections, Wen explained, highlight the broader appeal of amateur genealogical research in the area.
“Storytelling will never end, and genealogy is about storytelling,” Wen said. “It’s about uncovering our ancestors’ stories, and how those stories give shape to our own.”
The collaborative approach has also allowed the collective to bring in a diverse array of speakers and topics. In the past year, the collective hosted a special session with genealogists from Ulster County in Ireland and a talk on Eastern European genealogy.
These events, which may not have been feasible for individual libraries to host alone, were made possible through the collective’s pooled resources.
Over the past four years, the collective has seen steady growth, both in terms of the number of participants and the breadth of its offerings. For Trollo, the collaborative model has been a resounding success, helping libraries provide more to their communities without the need for increased funding.
“It’s just been a win-win for everyone involved,” she said. “We can offer our patrons more, and we’re able to work with other libraries, share ideas, and create something truly special.”
As the North Shore Genealogy Collective heads into its fifth year, the group plans to continue its mission of bringing genealogical resources and knowledge to local communities. To learn more about their upcoming virtual meetings, which are available to anyone, including non-library members, visit any one of the participating libraries’ websites or visit the Genealogy Federation of Long Island’s calendar at GFLI.net/events.
