You park in the basement and then you take the elevator to the first floor 
(unless you are parked somewhere else and you just walk directly into the 
first floor from the sidewalk).  Just go up the big stairs from the first 
floor to the second floor and turn left at the top to go to the "genealogy 
section."  They usually have a person at the desk in that area who can help 
you.  There is also another desk where a person will assign you a microfilm 
reader, if you want to use one (an you almost certainly will).  The cabinets 
that contain the microfilm reels are also in that same area, and someone can 
direct you to the county or area of interest within those cabinets (and they 
are also marked on the front of each drawer of each cabinet).  They also 
have an "archive room" where many original documents are kept, and you can 
go in there and ask for assistance, as well.  There are also computers in 
that same general area that you can use (and you can access the LOVa website 
on them, it you want to refresh your memory on what the library has 
available....and where).  There are also books along the outside wall that 
contain censuses.

If you want a Will from Hanover Co., VA, for example, you just pull the 
microfilm reel from the Hanover Co., VA drawer that contains Wills .  In 
some cases, the index for Wills, deeds, etc. may be on one film reel, and 
that will then direct you to another reel on which the document of interest 
is actually located (while some other reels have the index at the front, and 
the actual document is simply "deeper" in that same reel).  Most of the 
microfilm readers do not allow you to print anything, so if you find 
something that you want to print, you will have to take the reel and reload 
it on one of the few readers that do have a "print function." The staff will 
be glad to show you how to do that.  You can apply for a library card, and 
you can then "apply money" (say, for example $10) to that card (they have an 
"ATM-like" machine that will let you do that).  You can then insert that 
card into the microfilm printer to pay for any/all copies that you want to 
make.

The other side of that floor of the library (to the right of the top of the 
big stairs) has a large section of books that are arraigned by county.  You 
may find census, marriage, deed, etc., etc. information over there that you 
did not find in the microfilm (as well as county histories and things like 
that).

Bill Davidson

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