Renton Highlands Library:  https://kcls.org/locations/renton-highlands/ Starting a new endeavor is magic! Recently, we ( SKCGS ) were asked to open a Genealogy Help Desk at the Renton Highlands Library, pictured above. Two of our newer volunteers have been there on the second Thursday mornings beginning this September. I was privileged to be there last Thursday and help a brand new genealogy researcher get started. He walked in with a copy of GenHelp Desk flyer which he picked up at a local senior center.  When I asked what his interests were, he said, his whole family. And I know that when starting something new, there are a lot of hard ways to do it. Please show me the best way. It is not often that I'm asked for advice! It was a pleasure to walk with him over to the KCLS computers, where he navigated to Ancestry.com , to create a new free tree. Ancestry really does make it easy to get started when some basic facts are known. Along the way, I explained that while he may ge...

Courtesy of Brett Jordan, via Flikr WiredAlexandria, CC BY-SA 4.0 Have you ever heard that "if you really want to learn something, teach it to someone else"? I have, and have found it true.  Mothering taught me that, for sure!  I was lucky enough to attend the University of Washington for a year, and while there the most valuable concept I adopted was joining some study groups. This has lots of advantages, the biggest being that all participants want to be there, are pushing themselves to learn difficult concepts, ideas or skills, and are willing to both study and help others.  I've found our special interest groups and study groups inspirational for the same reason. People attend because they want to learn more about how to use DNA in their family history research, or how to use new website features or applications, how to write useful citations, how to research like the professionals do, and more! But most valuable of all, I see participants stepping up to demonstrate b...