1. Stop procrastinating. (If I'm a few weeks ahead of schedule, it must be working already!) To help do that, I need to find a good calendar program and use it consistently. Recently, I've taken to using the calendar built into to AOL 6.0. It allows me to keep a calendar on my machine at home and another on my machine at work, and when I sign on to AOL, the copies on my PC are synchronized with the copy on AOL's system. I can use it to block out time for my genealogical activities, or even to remind me of recurring events, such as online chats. If I weren't an AOL user, I'm sure I could find some sort of similar software product to use.

2. Keep in touch. This means I'm going to have to be more organized with my online correspondence. One way to do this is to create some additional mail folders in my e-mail software, such as one entitled "To be answered" and another entitled "To be filed." I also need to print out copies of correspondence I send and receive and file it with my surname binders.

3. Be more efficient. I receive a great deal of e-mail, which means it is easy for me to overlook something important. I need to review everything that comes in and look for ways to cut down on how much e- mail I get. For instance, I might change my mailing list subscriptions from regular mail mode to digest mode, so that my inbox doesn't show so many messages each day.

4. Get caught up. I need to go through that enormous backlog of research materials and enter the data into my genealogy database, together with appropriate source citations. Who knows how much research time I've lost because I've duplicated effort?

5. Digitize. I have a large pile of photographs from one of my last genealogy trips. I need to scan them, label them, and organize them. Because I won't need them often, I could archive them onto a Zip disk. Then I could use archival storage for the photos themselves, putting them in a cool, dark place.

6. Protect myself. I use an anti-virus program, but I need to be sure I am keeping it up to date. To help myself do this, I will probably want to put a monthly reminder in my online calendar to check for updates to my program.

7. Keep track of correspondents. I already use Microsoft Outlook to maintain a phone list for family, friends, and businesses. Why not use it to keep a contact list (especially e-mail addresses) for fellow genealogists?

8. Organize my browser bookmarks. It is easy to create a bookmark, but after a while I end up with a screenful of unorganized bookmarks. I can create bookmark folders for my surnames; my countries, states, or counties of interest; or other topics.

9. Learn more. I need to block off some time each week to read a book, a magazine article, a newspaper article, or a Web page that teaches me more about how to improve my online research skills.

10. Turn off my computer. When I was a college freshman in 1974, I wrote my first real computer program. While working on it, I often lost track of time and completely missed lunch. Twenty-six years later, it is still easy for me to forget what time it is when I'm engrossed in using a computer. By turning off my computer, I can go back to spending time with family and friends, never miss a meal, and perhaps even get enough sleep.

Here's hoping that you enjoy creating your own list of resolutions for the 21st century! (Feel free to steal some of mine.)

Drew Smith is an instructor with the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He is also a regular contributor to the quarterly journal Genealogical Computing, where he writes the Cybrarian column. He can be reached at drewsmith@aol.com.