[Genealib] Further musings regarding Ancestrybank reply

[ancestrybank at ancestrybank.com]

Traci,

Your thoughts are excellent and help me recognize other views of the  
site's potential impact.   I guess the basic factor that these  
messages come down to is a difference of opinion about making a  
business out of history.  When I created the site, the main factor  
that drove me was that someone out there has a document that answers  
my genealogical brick wall (connecting Scotland McLemores with US  
McLemores).  I have exhausted resources over the past few years and  
feel like there is some tiny piece missing.  My thought was, what if  
this piece were in someone's personal collection out there.  How can I  
motivate people to make their collections available.  This is my  
attempt at contributing to the field.  I am glad to hear that this  
debate has persisted well before my company...being fairly new I was  
beginning to think I got targeted.  Thank you and other librarians for  
educating and getting people to make their resources available.   
Whether it is to recoup costs or "earn" so that you can keep expanding  
and growing, I appreciate any effort made to make historical  
information made.  The value of a historical document isn't monetary  
(of course autograph dealers might disagree :)), I just hope that  
adding this as an option helps those who might believe differently or  
still might not live in the "perfect world" mentioned in a prior post.  
  When I say that owners can "earn", I mean that how it sounds.   
Again, just our difference of opinion.  Documents on this site are not  
made to view without charging...searching the index is free like on  
most sites...but like the two main national archives, you can't see  
them before purchase, only their descriptions.  When referencing the  
"visitors benefiting from visiting the library" versus being able to  
download off the internet, that was merely a reference to the cost of  
offering the product (gas versus $5).  Many libraries such as yours  
can offer the microfilm scans free, and many offer free digitized  
material on their sites...but just as many don't.  It's all back to  
the difference of opinion on how to operate.  Why would someone need  
more than a love...I guess because they are busy and it is the  
opportunity cost of time.

I had to separate this to make sure it is clear...it can be well more  
than $25.00.  You earn indefinitely off your documents...we actually  
cut a check and send it once the account has reached $25.00.  There is  
no limit to the amount "earned" - sorry for using the term.

When you state "I still don't see how appealing the desire to make  
money is creative or innovative" pretty much highlights our  
difference.  Usually, when it is broken down, making money is what  
drives innovation...capitalism! :)

Lastly, I know there is a great deal more to preservation.  I was  
solely referring to preservation of information...so I would disagree  
with the quote "... but appears not to be suitable for preservation of  
information
that is preserved in no other form" because I fail to understand how  
the information is not preserved when it essentially has a permanent  
copy that doesn't erode physically (plus a lot has happened since  
1995).  Plus every time a person purchases that document image, the  
document information is preserved one more time since there is another  
duplicated image out there - a mulitplying factor.  Alone it isn't  
full preservation as the second quote eludes to...that is  
understandable.  The quote isn't saying that it is not preservation  
though.

Discussing these issues has been fun and educating.  Thank you for  
taking the time to write and thank you list for allowing me to clarify  
the site in the beginning and debate in the end.

Sincerely,

Ryan McLemore
Ancestrybank.com