All posts by Julia, Librarian

AI SIG

July AI SIG Notes

News:

Writing Basic Prompts

  • Steve Little’s 5 Components of a good prompt:
    • A Role: Begin by imagining you’re recruiting an expert for a specific task. What’s their profession? What expertise should they possess? By defining a role, you’re setting the stage and giving the LLM a context to operate within. (Why? https://symbio6.nl/en/blog/role-prompting-ai)
    • A Goal: What do you want to achieve? This is your endgame. Being explicit here ensures that the AI has a clear understanding of your expectations.
    • A Text: Since genealogy is grounded in factual research, provide the text you’d like the AI to process. By supplying the exact text, you mitigate the risk of the AI generating fictitious information (a phenomenon known as “hallucinating”).
    • A Task: Simplify your request. Break it down into manageable steps, just as you’d explain a process to a bright but inexperienced intern. This ensures the LLM knows the sequence of operations it should perform.
    • A Flask: While the term “flask” is playfully chosen for the rhyme, it represents the container or format you’d like your response in. This could range from a narrative report to a structured database table.
  • Lisa Lisson’s 4-Part Strategy:
    • Define the AI’s role
    • Provide Thorough Context
    • Make Specific Requests
    • Layer Your Prompts (layering means asking a question, getting the answer, then asking a followup question)
    • Example: “Act as an expert-level genealogy researcher to help me research my third great-grandmother. Here’s what I know: Her name was Joanna, possibly Barrett (maiden name unknown). She was born in Ireland around 1824 and immigrated to America between 1849-1851. Her port of entry is unknown. Her daughter, also named Joanna, was born in 1851, probably in Virginia or DC. By 1855, elder Joanna was married to WR Wilmouth and living in Surry County, North Carolina, where no other Irish immigrants are found. Please create a research plan to investigate her earlier life and immigration path.”
    • An example from Martijn Andrea on FB: ‘You are an expert genealogist.The goal is to paraphrase content of a genealogy source without altering its meaning to be included into a genealogy report. The writing style of genealogy reports is a formal, academic tone suitable for use in scholarly works. Summarize the following text into a narrative of 2-3 paragraphs. Maintain a dry, factual tone throughout the narrative. Avoid using emotive language or making subjective judgments. Use British English format.Use the English punctuation style. If names of people, family relationships and locations are mentioned, include them as they appear in the facts. If dates or specific time periods are mentioned in the facts, include them in your narrative. For dates, use the international convention and use 3 letter months (example: 2 Nov 1780).’

Try an AI prompt generator like https://originality.ai/blog/ai-prompt-generator

Resources

Library

June 2025 New Books

Call NumberTitleInfoAuthorDate
G-B 182 V 1Broyles Family Ties Broyles, John Kenneth Sr.1969
G-B 182 V 2Broyles Family Ties Broyles, John Kenneth Sr.1969
G-B 182 V 3Broyles Family Ties Broyles, John Kenneth Sr.1969
G-B 182 V 4Broyles Family Ties Broyles, John Kenneth Sr.1969
G-B 182 V 5Broyles Family Ties Broyles, John Kenneth Sr.1969
G-B 182 V IndexBroyles Family Ties Broyles, John Kenneth Sr.1969
G-K 004The Jacob P Krehbiel Family Record 1671-1976 Stucky, Harley J.1976
G-M 006The Moores in Virginia 1684-1816 Schoene, Charles E.1974
R-040 046 V 46The KettleV 46 (2023) 
R-040 046 V 47The KettleV 47 (2024) 
R-210 594 2001Feist Yellow Book2001: South Central KansasFeist 
R-210 RN 22Partridge Cemetery French, Marson High1963
R-600 119Entrepreneurs of the Old West Dary, David1986
R-600 123Great American Cattle Trails Drago, Harry Sinclair1965
R-605 019 V 177New England Historical and Genealogical RegisterV 177 (2023) 
R-621039Wall of Empire: The Channel’s 2000 Years of History Bradford, Ernle1966
R-669 019Kasserine: First Blood Whiting, Charles1984
R-669 020The Films of World War II Morella, Joe1973
R-669 021The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors Hornfischer, James D.2004
R-669 022The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America’s Elite Alpine Warriors Isserman, Maurice2019
R-669 023Titans of the Seas: the Development and Operations of Japanese and American Carrier Task Forces During World War II Belote, James H.1975
R-669 024The Battle for History: Refighting World War II Keegan, John1995
R-669 025They Were Expendable White, W. L.1942
R-669 026With Lawrence in Arabia Thomas, Lowell1967
Library

New Books May 2025

Call Number Title Book Info Author Date
A-180 002 Morgan County Illinois Atlas & Plat Book Accurate Publishing & Printing 1988
G-B 180 The doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women — and Women to Medicine Nimura, Janice P. 2021
G-B 181 V1 Burket/Burkett & Blin/Blinn Families of Kansas V 1: Homesteading in Kansas: The John Burket Family Settles in Harper County Rhea, Philip Lawrence 2021
G-B 181 V2 Burket/Burkett & Blin/Blinn Families of Kansas V 2: John Wesley Burket 1874-1956 Rhea, Philip Lawrence 2021
G-B 181 V3 Burket/Burkett & Blin/Blinn Families of Kansas V 3: Mary Jestina Burkett Rhea, Philip Lawrence 2021
G-H 173 Tilling Under the Rainbow: Six Generations at the Harder Farm, 1876-2021 Epps, Melvin D. 2023
G-H 174 Frank & Leona Davis Hickman Family Tree Book Hickman, Frank Iris 1986
I-300 043 Snapshots and Short Notes: Images and Messages of Early Twentieth-Century Photo Postcards Wilson, Kenneth 2020
R- 667 014 Wake Up, America! World War I and the American Poster Rawls, Walton 1988
R-210 SG 344 The History of St. Joseph’s Church, Wichita, Kansas 1994
R-600 055 V 104 – 111 National Genealogical Society Quarterly 2016 – 2023
R-605 019 V 174 – 176 New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2020 – 2022
R-651 043 The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage 1614-1775 Coldham, Peter Wilson 1988
R-665 059 Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War Jordan, Brian Matthew 2014
R-665 060 Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War Silber, Nina 2005
R-665 061 Glorious Contentment: The Grand Army of the Republic 1865-1900 McConnell, Stuart 1992
R-665 062 Noble Women of the North Dannett, Sylvia G. L. 1959
R-665 063 Grand Army Women: The GAR and Its Female Organizations Wolz, Robert J. 2018
R-665 064 Testament to Union: Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C. Jacob, Kathryn Allamong 1998
R-665 065 Doctors in Blue: The Medical History of the Union Army in the Civil War Adams, George Worthington 1952
R-665 066 Yankee Women: Gender Battles in the Civil War Leonard, Elizabeth D. 1994
R-665 067 Women in the Civil War Massey, Mary Elizabeth 1966
AI SIG

May AI SIG Notes

AI-Enhanced Search

  • Never trust, always verify!
  • Google Gemini
    • Produces the AI insights at the top of some searches
    • Click on the little link icon to get a sidebar with links to webpages.
  • Google Lens
  • ChatGPT
    • Click the Search button or globe icon below the prompt box.
    • In the results, you can click on the gray source bubbles and see the underlying search results for each paragraph.  You can also click on the sources bubble at the bottom of the result and get a sidebar with links.  You will only get the links the AI used, and not a complete search result list like google gives you.
  • Perplexity
    • Two levels of free search – search and research.  Research requires a free account.
    • Search gives you a tab for the answer and a tab for the sources.
  • Resources
    • PC Mag: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-ai-search-engines
    • The Family History AI Show, by Mark Thompson & Steve Little
    • Genealogy and Artificial Intelligence Facebook Group
    • RootsTech will have 25 presentations (March 6-8): https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/
Library, Uncategorized

New Books April 2025

Call Number Title Info Author Date
G-B 179 Hero of the Pacific: The Life of Marine Legend John Basilone Brady, James 2010
G-C 008 A Genealogy of the Curtiss-Curtis Family of Stratford, Connecticut 1953 Supplement Curtiss, Frederic Haines
G-C 008a A Genealogy of the Curtiss-Curtis Family of Stratford, Connecticut 1975 Supplement Curtiss, Frederic Haines
G-C 113 V1 Carllson Family V 1: John A or H Carllson Keener, Margie Carllson 2000
G-C 113 V2 Carllson Family V 2: Clarence William Carllson’s Family & Descendants Keener, Margie Carllson 2000
G-C 113 V3 Carllson Family V 3: Carl Emile Carllson Keener, Margie Carllson 2000
G-C 147 The Chenoweth Family in America: Some Descendants of John Chenoweth b. ca 1682 Harris, Shirley D. 1994
G-D 027 The Dalton Gang Family Samuelson, Nancy B. 1989
G-D 083 Nevin L Dieffenbach Scheer, Ruth Dieffenbacher 1996
G-D 087 DeWoody Records: Chronicles of Three Families of the Name Brightwell, Newton Edward II 1989
G-E 040 Evans Family Cookbook Evans, Beryl 1991
G-F 048 V1 Flint: Family History of the Adventuresome Seven Flint, Edward F. Jr. 1984
G-F 048 V2 Flint: Family History of the Adventuresome Seven Flint, Edward F. Jr. 1984
G-M 110 The Life of William Mathewson ‘The Original Buffalo Bill’ Crickett, Glenn 1932
online — link in catalog New Thought Churches in Wichita, Kansas History and Structure Macklin, Mary E. 2007
online — link in catalog A Memorial of Francis Cook, One of the “First Comers” of the Plymouth Colony, December 22, 1620 and of His Immediate Descendants Cook, Henry 1870
online — link in catalog The Genealogy of Frothingham in New England 1850 Wyman, Thomas Bellows 1916
online — link in catalog A Genealogy of the Curtiss-Curtis Family of Stratford, Connecticut 1903 Edition Curtiss, Frederic Haines
R-210 BU 34 The History of Butler County Kansas Perrine, Elizabeth 1932
R-210 BU 35 El Dorado: Legacy of an Oil Boom Price, Jay M. 2005
R-210 CL 22 1956 Winfield City Directory 1956 R L Polk
R-210 CL 24 Moving Stories, Telling Places…Cowley County, Kansas Botzow, Bill 2000
R-210 SG 335 1947 The Hornet 1947
R-210 SG 335 1948 The Hornet 1948
R-210 SG 335 1949 The Hornet 1949
R-210 SG 336 1929 NTBCO The Last Leaf 1929
R-210 SG 337 1954 This Is Wichita 1954 – 1955
R-210 SG 337 1959 This Is Wichita 1959 – 1960
R-210 SG 337 1960 This Is Wichita 1960 – 1961
R-210 SG 337 1961 This Is Wichita 1961 – 1962
R-210 SG 338 1926 NTBCO The Wichitan 1926 Wichita High School
R-210 SG 338 1927 NTBCO The Wichitan 1927 Wichita High School
R-210 SG 339 Wichita and the Santa Fe to 1874 Stevens, Charles R. 1950
R-210 SG 340 The Founding of Valley Center Rapp, Genevieve May 1931
R-210 SG 341 Doctor Fabrique and Early Wichita Medical Practice Brooks, Frances Wilson 1931
R-210 SG 342 A History of The First Presbyterian Church of Wichita, Kansas Stone, Ruth Spooner 1935
R-210 SG 343 V 02 Wichita Local History Series 02: Cannonball Green Ellington, William Clark
R-210 SG 343 V 04 Wichita Local History Series 04: Ola Martinson Ellington, William Clark
R-210 SG 343 V 08 Wichita Local History Series 08: Early Sheriffs Ellington, William Clark
R-210 SG 343 V 09 Wichita Local History Series 09: Henry Clay Sluss Ellington, William Clark
R-210 SG 343 V 10 Wichita Local History Series 10: John Marion Steele Ellington, William Clark
R-210 SG 343 V 11 Wichita Local History Series 11: Eli Waterman Ellington, William Clark
R-600 055 V 109 N 1 National Genealogical Society Quarterly V 109 N 1 (2021)
R-600 055 V 109 N 2 National Genealogical Society Quarterly V 109 N 2 (2021)
AI SIG

April AI SIG Notes

  • Show & Tell
  • Ethics and Privacy Issues
  • Accuracy
      • Large language models deal in probability, not truth.  Outputs must be checked for accuracy.
      • Ask the AI to cite sources – and check that they are real
  • Training Data
  • Large language models are only as good as training data.
  • Biased data leads to biased outputs: article
    • Did the company have rights to use training data?
      • Google – uses search, web, etc
      • Facebook – uses posts on FB.  Also used a database of pirated books: article
      • Beginning to sign contracts: article
  • Confidential Data
    • When you go to, say, chatgpt.com, everything you input may get added to training data, eventually.  Don’t include confidential or sensitive information.  (AI is actually good at helping to anonymize data, such as generating lists of names to substitute for the real names.)Assume everything that you type on the public internet is added to training data.New downloadable models run on your personal device.  Your interactions are not necessarily uploaded as training data. 
    • Check the terms of use!
  • Copyright, Trademarks & Privacy
    • Purely AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted in the US. AI makes it really easy to generate illegal derivatives of copyrighted content.
    • May you use AI to create images using Coke cans, Lady Gaga’s face  or graphic violence?
      • Most products have restrictions and guidelines.  Grok (the X product) does not.
  • Authorship
    • When and how do we disclose the assistance of AI?  If it is being used as a tool in a way similar to a dictionary or word processor – ie, as a tool whose results get filtered through a human brain – probably not.  If it is doing unaudited work, probably.
    • How to make sure future AI products can be distinguished from “original” products… such as images, letters?
  • Environmental Issues
    • Running a new machine learning model on a huge training dataset, and offering it to millions of users, requires huge amounts of electricity and water.  Article
  • Resources
    • The Family History AI Show, by Mark Thompson & Steve LittleGenealogy and Artificial Intelligence Facebook Group
    • University of South Florida has written a very useful LibGuide on using AI: website
  • Articles Recommended by ChapGPT

Accuracy: Synthetic Heritage: Online platforms, deceptive genealogy and the ethics of algorithmically generated memory

Bias:  Ethical Challenges and Solutions of Generative AI

Respect for the Deceased:  AI Developments in Genealogy and How They Impact You

Copyright:  Generative AI in Focus: Copyright Office’s Latest Report

Terms of Use:  Navigating the Legal Landscape: Generative AI and Copyright Law

Data Sharing:  Privacy Challenges and Research Opportunities for Genomic Data

Living Relatives:  Ethical Considerations: Navigating Privacy and AI in Family History

Citation/Disclosure:  Disclosing Use of AI for Writing Assistance in Genealogy

Ethical Research: AI Developments in Genealogy and How They Impact You