What is a location/call number on a research log?
What is a location/call number on a research log?
Answers
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It would help if we saw the exact research log form you are using as they are not all the same.
However, a "call number" in library terminology is the record number assigned to a book.
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Location could be - the URL of the website it was located or the record URL; the name/address of the owner; the archive/library it may have been found at, etc.
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I made my own, but it is a direct copy of the standard one found at the family history library.
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What is the locality section on a research log.
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I would expect the "location/call number" to be information you need for (quickly/easily) locating that same source (document, book) again. For example, in a library, the call number is usually taped right to the spine, and books are usually shelved in numerical order by that call number, so if you have it, you should be able to find the same book again in that same library without needing to consult their catalog or anything. A small local historical society, on the other hand, is unlikely to have formal call numbers, but they'll have some method of organization that you can record in that column -- even if it's something like "blue bkcase 3rd sh".
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@Nathaniel Simon Notheisen Locality (at the top of your research log) is the place you have determined to search for records of the person - where they lived or where you believe they lived. The locality you are researching helps you find the records you are going to search - that are listed in the log below.
Objective is your goal for researching that person - to locate parents/siblings, to locate date/place of burial, locate highest degree of education, or to locate occupation, etc. for example. Generally you research the most recent events of a person before the more distant - death/burial before birth - but it really depends upon which information you are beginning with or whether you are stuck or need to fill in gaps of information.
A research log helps you break down research into specific objectives - so that you remain focused (or attempt to) in your search. Some people are very organized and keep a research log for each research task they have determined (including time spent for each task especially if you are going to be a commercial genealogist) - others do not. Attaching a research log into Memories could be helpful to other researchers so that they know what research you have done - so that they can verify easily or do not need to duplicate your research. I kind of look at Sources as a type of research log - it references the records that did locate the person. But Sources may not include all the types of records you researched but where you did not locate the person (that information is helpful in some cases).
A timeline is another tool that some find useful to research. You can use it to remind you of the timeframe of the person's life - birth-death at the extremes and key events in between. You could put a timeline on the back of one of your research log pages (if printing) or use a separate digital file (if not printing). There is a timeline on the About tab of new person page profiles.
If there were a way to put profile To-Do List into Helper/Helpful Resources> Plans - then that might make To-Do Lists more useful (help to build a digital Research Log for your FamilySearch account. Of course you could just type up a research log into a Plan - it is essentially the same type of document.
Keeping multiple tabs open to reference these resources while doing a specific online research task/object is another method to hopefully keep you focused on that task. Online research is only part of thorough research - you may locate offline records which you (or another researcher) may need to visit in person - for you to accomplish your research task. A FamilySearch Research Consulation is a great place to begin gathering resources/record collections you can search and document in your research log.
Compliments on beginning to keep a research log - you are more organized than I.
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