Link to the actual source
Using the link to the actual source helps when asking for assistance.
When looking at online forums and also requests for help that I receive, I often see that a small portion of the records has been cut out and presented. Some might think that this is helpful. In fact, in many cases, it is the opposite. I also sometimes see that The Digital archives’ option “Permanent image-link” is used. I urge you to not use this link for requests. This links to the picture of the whole page. It is impossible to zoom in and out, and it is often hard to read and to determine what parish the record comes from. There are many reasons why being able to see and search the actual record is helpful. In many cases, the request is help to read difficult handwriting. When I can see and search the actual record I can zoom in and out on the page and look at:
- other pages in the same section
- how the officer writes certain letters
- the same word/wording used in other record entries that might be easier to read.
Using the link to the actual record tells me exactly when and where the recorded event took place. This gives me the opportunity to use other sources to help transcribe the record.
- I can see if there is a copy of the church record that is easier to read.
- I can use Rygh’s “Norwegian Farmnames” to find the farm names that appear in the particular parish. This is a great help and makes it easier to recognize a poorly written name. I can use maps, address books etc. to make out a poorly written street name.
- I can look for local farm and family books, that might help shed light on the information in the record.
Adding a link to the actual record is quite easy if we use Norwegian Digital Archives’ scanned records. In the picture above we see the navigation bar that is present in all the Digital archives’ scanned records. For a full description you might want to see Church records in the “new” digital archives. You can also copy and paste the link that shows in the address field of your browser.
To paste you place your cursor where you want to insert the source and either right-click on your mouse and choose “paste” or you can use your keyboard keys “Ctrl and p”(Windows) “Cmd and p” (Mac)
Martin, this is a terrific idea. I’ve always disliked it when people only copy a little section of a record, showing one entry. I have similar objections to yours i.e., you can’t look around at the rest of the page and you can’t see the record’s source. You’re absolutely right about the added problem of not being able to enlarge the record. I had no idea that the feature you presented even existed. I’m so glad that you wrote about it. It will certainly save work in terms of both citing the source and identifying the page when asking someone else to look at a record. I’ve made this mistake when I’ve asked for your help a couple of times, so this was useful all the way around! Mange takk.