If you are taking a trip to a genealogical library, browsing the stacks can be a great way to find and locate materials that could be helpful in your research.
However…
There is also the card catalog and that needs to be used. Books may be catalogued for more than one county or location but they can only physically be in one place in the bookshelves. A book may contain Revolutionary war materials on Bedford and Amherst Counties in Virginia, but it cannot be in two places at once. A card catalog search for either county will locate the book in the catalog and then it can be located on the shelf. If you only browse the shelf for one county, you may miss it.
No responses yet