Research and Genealogy Guidelines

For Mail Correspondence, Long Distance Calls, or E-mailed Requests

We may respond to requests about Library holdings and for information on a subject within an area of the Library’s responsibility that can be quickly answered. We accept reference questions that relate to tracing family history in Hot Springs, Arkansas and Garland County only. We also accept questions from Garland County residents who need genealogy research assistance. For all other types of “in depth” reference or genealogy research, we encourage you to consult your local library or genealogy society. For more extensive research, contact our local genealogical and historical associations.

Brief Answers to Factual Questions

Given the volume of reference and family history questions we receive, our service is only able to provide brief answers to factual questions. For example:

• Library staff will look up people in the indexes and tables of contents of materials that are available in our collection (such as city directories, newspaper and other indexes, and local histories).

• Individual name searches must include geographical location, probable time frame, plus any other clues that might be useful. You must provide a date for newspaper articles or obituary searches because the local newspaper is not indexed.

• We will answer reference inquiries relating to the city of Hot Springs and Garland County history.

Correspondence

Correspondence is answered in order of receipt, i.e. faxed or e-mailed requests do not receive priority over mailed requests.

Charges

Regardless of the complexity of the search, the library charges a service charge of $30.00 per hour with minimum of one hour. This fee includes mailing and postage costs. In most cases, the library will ask you to remit the cost minimum via mail to our library and our staff will begin processing your request on the receipt of your payment. You will be advised in advance if the research will require more than one hour. We do accept money orders or personal checks. Please do not send cash.

Confidentiality of Patrons’ Record (Arkansas Code 13-2-701, Acts 1989, No 903)

The Garland County Library will not disclose any information concerning any patron. We must remind you however, that information submitted through the Internet over non-encrypted e-mail is not always secure. We maintain your confidentiality once the question arrives at our service, but we are not responsible for any breech of confidentiality while the e-mail message is traveling through the Internet.