Try-It! Illinois Returns October 1st

Try-It! Illinois Webpage Screenshot

It's my favorite time of year!!

Well, no, not really, I'm a summer gal - but if I have to stay inside, what better way than exploring the massive offerings on Try-It! Illinois. I lock myself in the Cave for this event and download like a mad woman.

Bad news? You must be an Illinois resident. If you are not an Illinois resident, stop reading right now, it will only make you sad!

From their website: "Welcome to Try-It! Illinois 2016, the seventeenth annual statewide database trial, sponsored by Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White and the Illinois State Library. Try-It! Illinois offers the staffs and library users of the more than 5,000 ILLINET member libraries the opportunity to survey and evaluate a wide variety of electronic resources. Thanks to the partnerships between the Illinois State Library and the participating electronic resource vendors, there is no charge for accessing these databases during Try-It! Illinois."

Try-It! Illinois returns for it's annual limited engagement October 1st through November 30th. Visit the site before hand and request your "secret" log-in information.  (Note: "We ask that you not post the Try-It! Illinois login and password on the Internet, on Web sites or in publicly archived e-newsletters.")

Click on the Participants link to view this years players.

Click on the Databases link to preview this fount of knowledge that will open up on October 1st. (The links won't be live until then, but you can browse)

My favorite collection is the ProQuest series - the Sanborn Maps alone I could spend a month on! I have not had the time to explore all the offerings in years past - the collection is vast and rich with variety.

I plan to do some digging in the historical section this year, (Daily Life Through History caught my eye already) and utilize the newspaper offerings, including Newspapers.com and NewspaperARCHIVE. MyHeritage and Fold3 will also be available, in their library editions, during this 'open house'.

Of course, this is bigger than genealogy (gasp!) There are science and technology sections, poetry, films, music, comics and graphic novels ..... well, you'll need to look for your self.

Good thing October 1st is a Saturday this year. If you call in sick on October 3rd I won't tell!

Happy Hunting!

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