Genealogy Workshop Series at the Library

Sylvia Tiala offers a variety of genealogy help sessions at the Library. With a passion for family history, she will be a guide to help you in your search. See her 2025 Motivational Monday interview with WEAU.

SATURDAY HELP SESSIONS: Offered on the 4th Saturday of each month from 9-11am in the small meeting room. September 2026-April 2027 on the 4th Saturday of each month (no session in December). Dates are: 9/26, 10/24, 11/28, 1/23, 2/27, 3/27, 4/24.

4 PART GENEALOGY WORKSHOP SERIES: Welcome budding genealogists! The Menomonie Public Library is hosting a free, four-part workshop series designed to help beginners dive into their family history. This series will guide you through beginning to build your family tree to exploring top research tools such as Ancestry, FamilySearch and Heritage Quest. Spring sessions will guide you through searching newspaper articles and census records. The final session will help you use Artificial Intelligence tools to help answer some of your research questions. Whether you have a pile of old family notes, or are starting from scratch you are welcome to join us as you start to bring your ancestors’ stories to life.

• Session 1: Building Your Family Tree

  Saturday, October 24 from 1 – 3 pm

• Session 2: Exploring MPL’s Genealogy Research Resources

Saturday, December 5 from 10am – 12pm

• Session 3: Putting Meat on Your Ancestors’ Bones

Tuesday, February 23 from 4 pm – 6 pm

• Session 4. Artificial Intelligence as a Research Tool

  Tuesday, March 23 from 4:00 pm – 6pm

The following items will be helpful for you during the workshops:-Basic skills navigating websites and a laptop computer is not necessary but highly recommended.-Willingness to create Family Search account using Apple/Facebook/GoogleNote: a very limited number of laptops will be available for participants.

Session 1: Building Your Family Tree

Saturday, October 24 from 1 – 3 pm

Curious about your ancestors? What names, dates (birth, marriage, death), and locations do you have for your ancestors? Bring what you know and what questions you have to this introductory workshop helping you build your family tree. The day will be spent with an overview of genealogy basics, identify record sources and research methods. You will begin to create your own family tree and develop a plan of action for next steps. This session is for beginners new to genealogy. Basic skills navigating websites and a laptop computer is not necessary but highly recommended.

Session 2: Exploring MPL’s Genealogy Research Resources

Saturday, December 5 from 10 am – 12 pm

Family Search, Heritage Quest, and Ancestry.com are three of the most popular online resources useful for exploring your family’s history and finding genealogical records. This interactive session will introduce you to the three services and their individual features while you explore your own family tree. This workshop is for beginners interested in researching and documenting information on your ancestors.

Session 3: Putting Meat on Your Ancestors’ Bones

Tuesday, February 23 from 4 pm – 6 pm

Join us at the Menomonie Public Library for an interactive workshop designed to help beginning genealogists “flesh out” their family histories beyond basic birth, marriage, and death dates. Participants will learn how to navigate vital digital newspaper archives – including the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Newspapers.com, Recollection Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center, and the Wisconsin Historical Society – to uncover rich everyday details about their ancestors’ lives. In addition to exploring historical newspapers and tracing lineage through census records, additional resources for local historical societies, state newspaper collections, and more will be provided.

Session 4. Artificial Intelligence as a Research Tool

Tuesday, March 23 from 4:00 pm – 6 pm

This hands-on workshop is designed to provide the beginning genealogist with an overview of navigating newer AI technologies that are transforming family history research. After an introduction to AI, participants will access Ancestry’s AI “Ideas”, FamilySearch’s “Full Text search, and practice prompting Google and/or Microsoft Copilot. During the session participants will practice building a research plan, identifying missing data, and consider local contexts in order to craft effective AI prompts and targeted questions to enhance their family records.

If none of these work for you, contact Sylvia to schedule an appointment at tialasyl@gmail.com.