DeKALB – Award-winning author and researcher Grace DuMelle will be in the main reading room at the DeKalb Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29 to explain genealogy’s top 10 concepts and principles, including working backwards, talking to relatives, using the U.S. Census and more.

DuMelle has been a professional researcher since 1995, helping clients from all over the United States and the world. Her firm, Heartland Historical Research Service, has assisted the United States Department of Justice and Graystone Communications, parent company of The History Channel. Heartland’s projects have taken DuMelle to the Library of Congress and the National Archives as well as facilities throughout the greater Chicago area.

Since 2001, DuMelle has been on staff at the Newberry Library in Chicago, one of the country’s foremost genealogical libraries. Guiding beginners to discoveries about their families is something she greatly enjoys. Her experience on both sides of the reference desk – as a staffer and as a researcher – influenced the practical approach of her book, “Finding Your Chicago Ancestors:  A Beginner’s Guide to Family History Research in the City and Cook County.” It has received state, regional and national awards for instructional nonfiction, and is now in its second printing.