Social media is a great way to keep up to date with what is happening in the world of family history. People that have heard me talk, know that I encourage people to make good use of social media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogging.

All are good ways of sharing information. Blogging in particular is fabulous way of sharing your research stories. Its also invaluable for learning from people who have more experience than you - or who have different experiences to you.

Often people share interesting websites, web pages and blogs via Twitter or Facebook, so I always keep a look out for any links that are posted to add to my own knowledge.

A couple of my Twitter pals were having a conversation the other day, that I took interest in. They were discussing an article in the US Family Tree magazine, which listed the 40 top international genealogy blogs.

I'm always interested in adding to my blog reading list, so I clicked the link that they were discussing to see what blogs of interest I could pick up.

I was thrilled to see Kintalk blog was listed as the New Zealand representative!

This was the second month that Kintalk had been listed in a magazine:- Australian/New Zealand magazine Inside History, had rated Kintalk a mention in their May issue.

People find such blogs via Google (or another search engine) or because they've noticed it on the a website such as our library website. Or they hear about it by word of mouth or "on the grapevine."

Twitter is the modern day version of "the grapevine". You chat with others via 140 character quick burst, post interesting links to share.

So have a look at both lists 40 top international genealogy blogs as posted by US Family Tree magazine, and the top 50 genealogy blogs as posted by Inside History magazine, and see what other blogs you can learn from. You'll see we are in really good company!

Take a note too, of the lefthand side of our page, at the "Blogs We Like" links and see what blogs we like to read on a regular basis in our Research Centre.

Don't forget you can follow Kintalk on Facebook by searching for the Auckland Research Centre, or clicking the Facebook button on the page - and/or you can follow @Kintalk on Twitter.

Happy blogging/reading!

Seonaid

David Verran

Newspapers provide much more than the usual births, deaths and marriage notices, and the occasional obituary. They provide an insight into people's lives. Social history, local, national and political history - all of which add shape to the lives of your ancestors.

National Library is in the process of digitising New Zealand's heritage newspapers and has so far digitised more than two million pages, 70 publications across New Zealand, and covers the years between 1839 and 1945.

These digitised newspapers are being added to PapersPast.

People were pretty quick off the mark to discover in May, that the next batch of Auckland Star pages had been added to PapersPast. From 1870 to 1926 of the Auckland Star is now available online - more than 75 years worth, keyword searchable.

The Auckland Star is a joint project with Auckland Libraries and the National Library.

National Libraries say that PapersPast only covers a very small amount of New Zealand newspapers as yet, and that if you cannot find what you need online, you may find what you need in paper or microfilm formats at your library.

Access to heritage newspapers from round the world can be obtained by our Digital Library:-

• 19th Century US Newspapers;

• British Newspapers 1600-1900;
• Illustrated London News  
• Picture Post Historical Archive  
• The Guardian and The Observer (1791-2003) 
• The Irish Times (1859-2008)  
• The New York Times (1851-2007) 
• The Scotsman (1817-1950)  
• Times Digital Archive

And you can read more about our newspapers, both heritage and more recent.

Happy hunting

Seonaid