* How to best link sources to each other?

[Hans_S]

Hi!
One of my major sources of information is an "Ortsfamilienbuch", a compilation of ca. 1000 families who lived in a place over a time span of ca. 500 years. My database refers to ca. 50 of these records. I started out creating one source record for that book and adding "Where in source" fields to all references, and adding the source text as note. But then I found I was entering the same information 2, 3 or more times, so I changed the system to have one source for each family record from that book, and I added the bibliographic information to each source. This also created some redundancy, but I can live with it.
What I am wondering is how to link those family record sources to the book source, like a "source for this source". I put it into the "Note" field but I'd prefer some other way. Is there a best practice for this situation?
Thank you
Hans

[ColeValleyGirl]

How/where will you want to view the linkage? From the Source record or from the 'book record'. Do you want the book record to appear in reports? Do you want (for example) to view the 'book record' and see all the sources connected to it?

If you can tell us a bit more about how you want to view and use the information, we can make better suggestions.

[tatewise]

Welcome to the FHUG Hans.

Maybe the book source can be treated as a Repository, and that Repository can be attached to each family record source?

As Helen says, an important consideration is where you want the information to appear in Reports, etc.
But since you only joined today, possibly the features of FH may still be new, and need investigation.

[Gowermick]

Personally I don’t bother. A lot of parish register entries on Ancestry for Yorkshire clearly come from the West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS), but I just note image came from Ancestry.

[jbtapscott]

I'm with Mike on this one. I get most of my info from FMP, and, certainly in the case of parish records, they get information from a variety of other archives, but I always record FMP as the Repository on the Source record. I always create/download a PDF of the FMP transcript so if it did disappear from the FMP site, and in the unlikely event I did need to look at the record again in the future, I can still find out where the original came from.

[Gowermick]

Further to Brent's answer, if you think about it, Ancestry got their Images from WYAS, where did WYAS get them from?
This could be a never ending cycle, ending up with the Parish Church, and that is what I usually quote, with a note to say image came from Ancestry. or FMP or FamilySearch etc.
Once I have downloaded the image, I don't always quote where I got it from, as the image speaks for itself. But then again, I'm lazy

[ColeValleyGirl]

For a Parish register accessed as an image online I would identify the Parish register and the online site where I viewed/downloaded it, and also identify where that website got the images (source of the source). So, for example:

"Pembrokeshire Marriages and Banns Transcription" database with images, Findmypast(https://findmypast.co.uk accessed 21 January 2018), marriage of John James and Anne John, St Peter Little Newcastle 18 August 1825; citing Welsh Archive Services (Pembrokeshire Archives).

The Parish Church is identified; as is the website I used and the archive they licensed the material from. A reader ought to be able to locate the same material either online or at the Archives from that source name.

[LornaCraig]

sago_palm43 refers to 'information' but doesn't say whether there is an image involved.

If there is an image it is sensible to use the 'splitter' approach and create a separate source record for each image. Like Helen, I record both the website where I found the image and also the original 'source of the source'. Whereas Helen puts all the information in the Title of the Source record I put the website in the Publication Details field and the 'source of the source' in the Repository field. I know some people think of the website as the Repository but I prefer to think of it as the publisher in the literal sense that it is making the information public. For me the Repository is usually the physical archive where the original document is held.

If you are just recording information (as sago_palm43 may be) without an image there may not be any clue as to the location of the original documents but the website usually shows which of its own 'collections' of records it comes from and/or where it obtained the data if it was from another provider. In cases like this I use a 'lumped' source with the title of the website and in 'Where Within Source' I record the particular collection and/or film number and/or any other relelvant details. As usual there are many ways of doing things in FH.

[brianlummis]

I must say that I use the literal meaning of repository which is where the document is stored. That is more likely to be a more static location, such as a Record Office, and makes it much easier for anyone else looking for the document to be able to find it. Citing Ancestry is not very helpful for someone who subscribes to FMP or who does not use the Internet (yes there are still some people who don't!) and /or needs to examine the original.

Having said that I do not concern myself with the strict citations as put forward by Elizabeth Shown Mills as life is too short to recite chapter and verse in every case. My references to sources is based on giving enough information that would allow someone else to find the recorded item.

[mjashby]

I'm with Brian on this, i.e. I record the 'original' source/copyright holder as the Repository and limit any recording of Websites, who have a (probably time-limited) license to publish images/transcripts, as publishers, using Source Publication details or notes if necessary.

Mervyn

[sindi21]

I must say that I use the literal meaning of repository which is where the document is stored. That is more likely to be a more static location, such as a Record Office, and makes it much easier for anyone else looking for the document to be able to find it. Citing Ancestry is not very helpful for someone who subscribes to FMP or who does not use the Internet (yes there are still some people who don't!) and /or needs to examine the original.

Having said that I do not concern myself with the strict citations as put forward by Elizabeth Shown Mills as life is too short to recite chapter and verse in every case. My references to sources is based on giving enough information that would allow someone else to find the recorded item.

makes sense
I'm going to try it out right away