I am currently partway through a reorganization of my home computer's hard drive. Over the past two years, I have allowed a large number of folders and files to accumulate in the "My Documents" folder, and an equally large set have piled up in the "Download" folder of my AOL software. So to make some sense of it all, I began by opening the "My Documents" folder. This is an important folder, since it is easily accessible from the computer desktop.

One of my first decisions was to put all of my genealogy-related folders and files into a single folder called "genealogy." I deleted folders that contained material I was no longer interested in, and I created several new folders to hold a number of loose, but related files that had not yet been placed into their own folders.

Inside the genealogy folder, I created subfolders for each of the genealogy organizations I am or have been affiliated with (such as the Florida State Genealogical Society). I also began to create folders for places I am researching, such as my hometown of Newberry, South Carolina.

In the place-oriented folders, I put digitized image files relating to those places. For example, my Newberry folder contains another folder called "graphics." Inside that folder are five digitized photographs of Newberry landmarks. These landmarks include the textile mill in which my grandparents worked, my high school alma mater (the same school my mother graduated from in 1938), and several downtown buildings. Because you will likely accumulate a large number of digital images of the places you research, I recommend that you put them into a separate "graphics" folder inside the place name's folder. If you get a large number of place names, you'll probably want to further organize them by state or country.

In addition to folders for each place, you'll also want folders for each surname you're researching. If you have digital images of people with those surnames, you'll probably want to create a "graphics" folder inside the surname folder, too.

One final tip on reorganizing your "My Documents" folder: Rename any file or folder that is too general to better describe what it contains. Otherwise, you'll spend too much time trying to figure out the purpose of the folder or file!

By organizing your digital files, you'll be able to find what you need a lot more quickly and easily. Perhaps you'll also come across a few bits of genealogical information you might previously have missed!

Before I forget, I'd like you to tell you about a brand-new service from MyFamily.com: genealogy training Web sites. This new service will permit you to take an online genealogy course from an instructor for a period of one month, followed by 11 months of continued access to the course Web site so that you can share tips and techniques with your fellow students. Beginning 21 March 2001, I'll be instructing a basic course in online genealogical research. For more information about my course and its Web site, visit MyFamily.com and click on the link that says, "Join a genealogy training Web site."

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.