BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Every family has a story and all it takes is a little digging. For visitors of the Wood County District Public Library, history librarian Marnie Pratt said unearthing one nugget of information can lead to a journey of discovery.
"I always call it falling down the rabbit hole," Pratt said. "Anytime I'm doing any kind of research on anything I always stumble across something else. It piques my interest and then I have to follow that rabbit hole. There's just really great stories out there."
If you want to learn about your family history, the best place to start is by writing it down and taking your notes to your local library, Pratt said.
There, a large portion of your research can be found in the history section of the library.
Most of WCDPL's history material is about Wood County, but there's information on the entire state, too.
If it's not in the stacks of paperbacks and hardcovers, the next place to search would be the library's digital archives.
"We have people in here every day. They could be here for a variety of different things. It's not always family history, sometimes they are researching property," Pratt said.
A property record search is what Millie Broka is looking into with her genealogy research.
Her curiosity about genealogy started after hearing stories about family members.
"I had a great uncle that had been married five or six times," Broka said. "I was trying to figure out why and one thing led to another."
You can find Broka, a member of the Wood County Genealogical Society, in the WCDPL multiple times a month.
She said she loves helping others with family history.
"They get all excited when you find something for them that they hadn't found. It's worthwhile and it's rewarding," Broka said.
Pratt and Broka said libraries have an abundance of resources at your fingertips. All you need is a little time and patience, and you're likely to find something you didn't know.