For the genealogist, Cyndi's List is nothing short of a phenomenon. It originated just a few years ago with the modest aim of providing the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society with five or six pages of genealogy web site addresses. From there, Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet with 1,025 links listed on one page, grew to more than 40,000 categorized and cross-referenced links in more than 100 categories listed on more than 300 individual web pages. The site now has more than 64,000 visitors each day, with more than 7 million people having stepped through the front door of the site to date.
The Internet is a remarkable and revolutionary tool in itself, but it is Cyndi's List that has spearheaded the revolution in Internet genealogy. Like a scholar, Cyndi has studied the random organization of genealogical information on the Internet and has reduced it to a cohesive pattern for all to see and benefit from. Like a librarian, Cyndi has carefully created her massive index of genealogy web sites and cross-referenced them so that visitors to Cyndi's List can find what they're seeking regardless of how they approach their research. Like a teacher, Cyndi has patiently volunteered her time helping tens of thousands of family historians to better understand this wonderful tool called the Internet. Small wonder that Cyndi's List has become the premier index to genealogy and family history resources on the Internet!
Even as Cyndi's List has become a traditional online research tool for people worldwide, the need for a printed version of it has become more and more apparent. Numerous people have asked for a printed version of the site to help them prepare in advance for the time they spend doing their research online; and of course a printed version would also be convenient for those who pay for their Internet connectivity by the minute. Libraries and Family History Centers have also expressed a need for the printed version of Cyndi's List, since with the book version next to each computer terminal, library patrons would be able to spend their limited time online in a productive manner. Hence the appearance of the book version of Cyndi's List!
Here, in print, is the organized, cross-referenced index to genealogy and family history sites on the Internet, where the explosion of interest in genealogy is a phenomenon itself.
