Some of our members live places other than Ocean Shores. If you happen to be one that lives somewhere outside Ocean Shores proper in Grays Harbor or Thurston or even Pacific Counties, or if you own property in one of those places, you are eligible to obtain a free Timberland Library Card.
Timberland Reciprocity
A Timberland Library Card is quite different than one from Ocean Shores, because Timberland subscribes to several genealogy resources that Ocean Shores does not. Perhaps even more importantly, Timberland has card reciprocity with many other library systems in Washington State. as indicated on their website, here, those include
I can testify that these agreements work. Today, for example, I obtained a Seattle Public Library card (with access to things including the GREAT genealogy collection at their main branch). I brought in my current Pacific County Property Tax Statement, and used my Texas Driver License as photo ID (the address on my Pacific County Property Tax is my second residence in Texas and matches that on my photo ID). Upon seeing my CURRENT Timberland Library Card, I was up and running as an approved Seattle Library Card Holder.
Unfortunately, those that reside in Ocean Shores and don't own property elsewhere in the Timberland Region can't get a free TRL Card. Still, some of their "paid" card options may be affordable.
Timberland Genealogy
Timberland has some very useful online genealogy resources. If you go directly to the trl.org home page, you have to click through some constantly changing link trails to get to the list of genealogy-related online databases, which appear on page https://www.trl.org/node/14897?topics=57 - rather than that, our link page "Timberland Regional Library Genealogy" sends you directly to the genealogy database page listed above.
Highlights of Timberland Genealogy Page
Ancestry Library
TRL has a subscription to the Library Edition of Ancestry. That includes all the Ancestry features except you don't log on and you can't save anything to it. You CAN, however, download documents or even email them to yourself. The TRL Ancestry page requires you to either access it from one of their computers or from your own computer while operating inside the TRL wifi envelope. This is actually quite convenient if you have a laptop since you can save "the good stuff" to wherever you usually save such stuff. Some other libraries (and the Ocean Shores Family History Center) have a more restrictive subscription that only allows Ancestry access from an institution computer.
Sanborn Maps
TRL has Sanborn Maps. These are maps of various cities that were originally intended for fire insurance purposes. As such, they have details on the streets and structures that are invaluable for someone looking up such info on an ancestor in any city that has a Sanborn Map. TRL only carries Sanborn Maps for places in Washington State. As an alternative, the Library of Congress has 18,695 (as of July 1, 2019) pages of Sanborn Maps from places all around the USA. I do not know if TRL Washington Maps are greater than the Washington Maps in the LOC. Access the LOC page here.
Other TRL Resources
TRL has Heritage Quest Library and Newspaper Archive. These has quite a bit of information. Unlike the Ancestry Library, you do not have to physically be IN the Library to use them. Just have your card number handy. If I'm IN a TRL branch, however, I generally find their Ancestry subscription to be more useful than Heritage Quest and Newspaper Archive lacks many of the newspapers you can access from newspapers.com.
TRL has a bunch of other genealogy resources listed on their page, but most, if not all of them do not require a TRL or any other special credentials to access.
Timberland Reciprocity
A Timberland Library Card is quite different than one from Ocean Shores, because Timberland subscribes to several genealogy resources that Ocean Shores does not. Perhaps even more importantly, Timberland has card reciprocity with many other library systems in Washington State. as indicated on their website, here, those include
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| Library Systems Having Reciprocity with TRL |
Unfortunately, those that reside in Ocean Shores and don't own property elsewhere in the Timberland Region can't get a free TRL Card. Still, some of their "paid" card options may be affordable.
Timberland Genealogy
Timberland has some very useful online genealogy resources. If you go directly to the trl.org home page, you have to click through some constantly changing link trails to get to the list of genealogy-related online databases, which appear on page https://www.trl.org/node/14897?topics=57 - rather than that, our link page "Timberland Regional Library Genealogy" sends you directly to the genealogy database page listed above.
Highlights of Timberland Genealogy Page
Ancestry Library
TRL has a subscription to the Library Edition of Ancestry. That includes all the Ancestry features except you don't log on and you can't save anything to it. You CAN, however, download documents or even email them to yourself. The TRL Ancestry page requires you to either access it from one of their computers or from your own computer while operating inside the TRL wifi envelope. This is actually quite convenient if you have a laptop since you can save "the good stuff" to wherever you usually save such stuff. Some other libraries (and the Ocean Shores Family History Center) have a more restrictive subscription that only allows Ancestry access from an institution computer.
Sanborn Maps
TRL has Sanborn Maps. These are maps of various cities that were originally intended for fire insurance purposes. As such, they have details on the streets and structures that are invaluable for someone looking up such info on an ancestor in any city that has a Sanborn Map. TRL only carries Sanborn Maps for places in Washington State. As an alternative, the Library of Congress has 18,695 (as of July 1, 2019) pages of Sanborn Maps from places all around the USA. I do not know if TRL Washington Maps are greater than the Washington Maps in the LOC. Access the LOC page here.
Other TRL Resources
TRL has Heritage Quest Library and Newspaper Archive. These has quite a bit of information. Unlike the Ancestry Library, you do not have to physically be IN the Library to use them. Just have your card number handy. If I'm IN a TRL branch, however, I generally find their Ancestry subscription to be more useful than Heritage Quest and Newspaper Archive lacks many of the newspapers you can access from newspapers.com.
TRL has a bunch of other genealogy resources listed on their page, but most, if not all of them do not require a TRL or any other special credentials to access.
