The City of Iowa City is introducing a new system that allows the public to view Oakland Cemetery information online. Visitors to the site can search for burials by name, locate a burial site on a map of the cemetery, and view records that can be printed from home. The system also provides a map featuring lots sold, used, and those available for sale.
The program, eCIMS, allows the City to share data and maps online and provide improved access for those searching for gravesites and records. The eCIMS software is a customer service enhancement for citizens, making records available 24/7, and is ideal for genealogists searching through family records.
The City Clerk and Cemetery staffs have worked on the project for more than seven years, scanning and entering data for more than 20,000 cemetery records. These records include lot owner and deceased information, as well as updates and correspondence. Users are asked to be patient when loading the new program, as it may take several minutes to open, depending upon connection speed.
City Clerk Marian Karr reminds users that "while great care was taken in preparing and loading the information, there may be errors in this presentation and it continues to be a work in progress." Quarterly updates to the program are planned.
Visit the Oakland Cemetery website at http://www.icgov.org/?id=1054 to access this new feature and learn more about using the program. Contact Marian Karr for more information at 319-356-5041 or email marian-karr@iowa-city.org.
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