Michael John Neill - Some Features of the PERSI CD

Persi 2001--from Ancestry.Com

From the Ancestry Daily News
by Michael John Neill – 2/27/2002

Some Features of the PERSI CD ( Persi 2001)

The CD version of PERSI (Periodical Source Index) has distinct advantages over the online version, especially in terms of search functionality. Those who find numerous hits in the online version of PERSI may wish to consider purchasing or accessing the CD version of PERSI in order to take advantage of the CD's more sophisticated search features. Those who find few citations may be able to utilize the online version effectively although the CD version performs searches much faster. Your local library with a genealogical collection may already own a copy of PERSI for patron use. Of course, those who obtain the CD can always donate it to their local genealogical library when they feel they have utilized it to its full potential.

Tagging Citations
Tagging is perhaps one of the easiest features of the CD to use and the one feature that readers utilizing the CDs at a library may find most helpful. Tagging a citation is easy. Simply click somewhere within the desired citation and click the maroon tag button at top of the display. A red line will appear to the left of the citation, indicating the citation has been "tagged." Turning off a tag is as simple as clicking on the citation and hitting the "tag" button again. The red line will disappear indicating the citation is no longer tagged.

One can maneuver through the search results and tag those items that are of interest. New searches can also be performed and additional records tagged without losing the tagged results (just do not exit the program or you will lose your tags). Then by choosing "view" (from the list of menu options), the user can view only the tagged records. The tagged records can be either printed or copied to another Windows document. One can highlight the entire set of tagged records by using the mouse (there does not appear to be a "select all" option, nor did the typical keystroke commands for "select all" seem to work). Once the entire set of tagged records have been selected, selected items can be copied (by using CTRL C or choosing "copy" from the edit menu). One can paste the results into a word processor for additional commentary and research notes.

When I paste an entire set of results into a Word document, I find it particularly helpful to use my "find and replace" to replace the "order this article" text with at least six paragraph marks (^p^p^p^p^p^p), which serves to "space out" the results. This makes it easier for me to view the citations. I could then use the resulting document at a library or research facility that may have some of the magaz