Syracuse University (Syracuse University, School of Information Studies)

LaVerne Gray, Ph.D., assistant professor at Syracuse University School of Information Studies will examine information behavior, explore familial collection building, and support dissemination of unearthed histories of African Americans. The project goals are to identify and distinguish relationships (networks) and community structures of support for African American genealogists. The project seeks to (1) capture narratives of African American genealogical community members in professional practice, associations, and online environments; (2) explore and analyze the collection and artifacts of African American genealogists; (3) uncover familial histories toward the development of a dissemination tool for use in libraries and archives that service African American genealogists; and (4) utilize multiple qualitative approaches for data collection to develop protocols for investigating an information community of color defined by the activity of family historical research.