The 1940 U.S. census is going to be released in a few months and most of us can barely stand to wait! Actually you don't have to. You can use CITY DIRECTORIES to get an address for a family, and then be ready to find the ENUMERATION DISTRICT for that address as a first step, as it will be some time before any of the INDEXED DATABASES catch up with the volume of need for information.
Of course, if you're using the 1940 to find someone who is not showing up on CITY DIRECTORIES or the 1930 census, someone who has, perhaps, been the victim of terrible handwriting or inaccurate indexing or transcribing to databases, this can be frustrating.
My advice is NOT TO BE AFRAID OF DOING THINGS THE GOOD OLD FASHIONED WAY!
At least half of my personal genealogy has NOT been possible to replicate using Ancestry Databases, to give you an example. And believe me I tried.
When you pull something up instantly on a database it's a blessing, because it will save you time. However, don't get lazy looking for your family... Don't hesitate to call the closest archive, library, or museum to find out about any local publications such as newspapers, trade magazines, ethnic-oriented club literature, and historical books, to get a better position in your research!
