Consider this situation: a researcher named Sue has diligently done her work and traced an ancestor to his origins in the "old country," England. Before she tries to locate this ancestor's birth certificate, baptism record, and marriage information which she's sure must exist in England, Sue decides to do a little background investigation first to learn about the country, county, people, and genealogical resources available.

Since our researcher is Internet-savvy, she knows she can utilize a number of online sources to gather basic information about England. Her first stop is to the British Tourist Authority (http://www.bta.org.uk/frameset.htm), an online tourist agency. There she finds information about the British region, customs, trivia, photos, and even a section called Tracing Your Ancestors. Sue uses the online form to order tourist brochures and maps (items which are generally available gratis from tourist agencies), then turns her attention to regional information.

Sue is interested in the Lancashire area, and a quick trip to a search engine brings up a few sites devoted to it. The "This Is Lancashire" site (http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/) has a map of the area, information about the region and towns, local and national news, classified ads, tourist information, business listings, and more.