We keep hearing about The Deep Web. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? It can be, but for us genealogists, it doesn’t have to be. Quoting again from James Tanner’s “Genealogy’s Star” blog:  “Sometimes the deep web or dark web is portrayed as something mysterious or even evil, but here is a definition from the Association of Internet Research Specialists about the hidden Internet that explains what and where it is:

“When you hear or read about the hidden or deep web, it’s anything behind a paywall (or) something with a password……These are the things you are not going to find with a traditional Google search.”

Example: Picture a huge, wonderful, old card file cabinet in your local library. (My first visit to the Family History Library was in 1975 and I there used a wooden-drawer file cabinet!) You might can click to that library’s website, and see where is listed among their resources “a card-catalog index to surnames in the area for in-house use only.” No Google search will look for your surname in that catalog. Make sense?

Or your local genealogical society has a “members’ only” section where are posted things like past issues of their publication and/or their membership list. Again, Googling to that society website won’t get you into those publications because they are behind a membership wall. Again, make sense?