Looking for help

[batman754]

Hello,

I am looking for specific help regarding research that I am doing on a cold case.

I don't know if that's the correct forum thread to post; if wrong, I would feel very sorry and grateful to have my post moved to the correct place.

Currently living in Europe, I have found that specific information I am looking for was present in two different books. Those books are physically present on the shelves of different universities, but only in the USA

Question is, would there be anyone there from one of the following universities that would be ready to go get one of those books and do TWO page scans for me, please?

University of Texas Rio grande valley - Edinburg Library Stacks
University of Pennsylvania / Franklin - Van Pelt Library
University of utah - Salt lake city - Marriott Library
University of southern california - Grand Depository
University Of Minnesota - Minneapolis - TC Wilson Library
Harvard University - Cambridge - Gutman Education
Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland - KSL Stacks
University of Arizona Libraries - Tucson - Main Library
University of Michigan - Buhr Shelving Facility

There have been two years I have been looking for those books. I am fairly desperate. Only scanned copies are available on Hathitrust, and this website require University credentials in order to view those items, that are "limited-preview" only. I don't even know if one properly logged there will have access to the book content.

Any way, if somebody is familiar with hathitrust and would be willing to help, I would be oh so grateful.

Thank you in advance!

 

[WillieMac]

I apologize if I missed this in your post but, (& I'll state right up front for you that I'm not someone with access to any if these college libraries) which case(s) or books might you be trying to research & gain access to? I'm curious why these books would only be available to colleges in the US. Was it a crime/disappearance/murder/kidnapping/whatever that happened in the US - or elsewhere? Color me intrigued. While I can't help you find the info you're looking for, I do hope that you decide to share more info with us at some point.

 

[batman754]

Thanks for your questions.

I am trying to find information about a person who is suspected of crime; at that time, the person's employment was counseling; books I am trying to find are from some Counseling associations, in the 70's. The person in question was accredited with this counseling association, so had his name in its directory. It would provide details about

-where the person was
-business name
-telephone
-etc..

I found a copy on Google Book, but it is an item with "snippet view" aka "limited preview"; this means that you can search for text inside, and it sometimes provide a 5cm squared picture scan. Practically, the picture scan displayed does not match the text looked for, it will only show the first of the page, page containing some 15 of those snippets. As well, those limited-preview books on Google are somehow 70% scanned, and the pages I am looking for are not even scanned. no preview!

This website, Hathitrust, has tons of books, registers, etc... Unfortunately, most of the books have a mention of "search only", which will not even show you the text in the book, but only tell you if your search matches something in the book. In order to see the scan, this website directs you to a login, starting with a scroll-down US university list. So, in order to be able to login on this website, you must first have a login in one of those Universities, and, unless you're a student in one of those, no way to create an account in whatever University. At best you will be able to get granted some form of "guest" user from whatever University, but this is not usable on Hathitrust.

I believe that other Universities from the US would grant you the proper credentials necessary in order to be able to access "limited-preview" books, but I did not dig that far, as I believe it's a form of front restricted to official/students only.

Regarding the specifics of what I am looking for, I would like to keep low-tone, and somehow limit the details. I don't want to forget that this is crime related, that there are still procedures, and I don't want to attract too much visibility.

 

[Laughing]

Try emailing those libraries with the citation & ask for scans of the pages.

Libraries field requests for information all the time -- that's the business they're in!

Also, that information seems rather bland, instead of secretive or privileged. Have you tried any city directories for places this person lived?

Let us know the outcome, please.

 

[batman754]

Hello,

Thank you for your answer.

I emailed one University but received a negative response, because their services were restricted to student only. From there I did not try more; but I will ask other libraries if anything can be done; thank you for the lead!

Thanks for the city directory tips; I do, but face some practical obstacles:

-person is not extremely known, so there is a few references
-we don't know where the person was at some points, which leaves us with only a name to look for
-I am looking for fully scanned directories, 60's and 70's, for a specific city. There are some there and there, and I look for in every time I find one. There are not that many, but thanks for the advice, I will continue to check.

I will try to get some bland phone directories, but don't know what is available.

Thank you very much,

I'll come back for follow-up

 

[Laughing]

I only know what works from computers in the US, but you might find information on FamilySearch:

Start Your Family Tree - Search Genealogy Archives

or US GenWeb by clicking to the state, then county, where you know the person lived. Lots of newspaper links:

USGenWeb Project - Always Free

Each state usually has a newspaper archive, often at a university or state historical society or state archive. These collections try to have a copy of every newspaper ever published in that state. Careful searching often turns up useful information.

Here is an example for the state of Illinois:

Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections

and for Arkansas:

Newspapers | Arkansas State Archives Research | Arkansas Digital Archives

Try typing " (Name of State) newspaper archive" into the Google search box.

I'm an old genealogist, sometimes you have to be creative to find people!

jmho ymmv lrr

 

[batman754]

thanks, I'll have a look

 

[Wild Rose]

One of the best things some countries did right was that they declared their universities to have a culture of openness. Students from everywhere able to live and learn together in a free exchange of ideas. That colleges are "open campuses". And most universities and colleges accept all kinds of federal funding and state funding, so it is kind of sad when their great collections are not free to peruse to taxpayers. I LOVE the fact that we have many open campuses!

 

[batman754]

Hi there, back for follow-up;

I could have access to the information I was looking for.

After contacting the universities directly, it appeared that two have a service of pay-for scan. Something like 10$ for one page, if you are an absolute outsider. Still, this is a working way to get information.

Only one university provided me the scan freely.

Other universities directed me towards an "Inter Library Loan"; I am not that familiar with this concept, but as I understood it, one has to go to a local library in order to process this. As I'm on another continent than the US, I don't know if this "I.L.L." system would ship you the book or scanned items.

Thank you for pointing me to the various directions; following your suggestions worked. It's not that evident for a person living on another continent to take the step and freely have a try to a local library elsewhere. there was much uncertainty on my side.

I wasn't able to edit my first post; would it be possible for the admins to add a mention at the end of it like "Edit: found the references, thank you, not needed anymore", please?

Thank you!

 

[batman754]

The following university provides a pay-per-scan for outsiders:

University Of Minnesota - Minneapolis - TC Wilson Library
University of Arizona Libraries - Tucson - Main Library

-

Seems outsiders can proceed to a costly membership in order to access scan services at the following library:

University of Pennsylvania / Franklin - Van Pelt Library

-

The following university provided me with the text, and did research and told me if specific references were present in specific books; for more, must do I.L.L.

University of utah - Salt lake city - Marriott Library

-

After registration to "Hollis" system, I am now able to request scans for free at the following place:

Harvard University - Cambridge - Gutman Education

-

The following universities told me to proceed via Inter Library Loan:

University of Michigan - Buhr Shelving Facility
Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland - KSL Stacks

-

I did not dig further with the following libraries/can't track their answer:

University of Texas Rio grande valley - Edinburg Library Stacks
University of southern california - Grand Depository

 

[Laughing]

Glad to be of help and glad you are able to read those pages!

Let us know if you need more US resources.

 

[batman754]

Ok, thank you.

To fup exactly, Harvard university asked for fees after three pages.