[Genealib] Ancestry Off Site

Mon Sep 11 07:18:36 EDT 2006

We have a subscription to AncestryPlus at Clayton Library for Genealogical Research, through our Houston Public Library System.  However, it must be used in the library (I have no idea why since it won't be used if you don't or cannot go to the library and it is already paid for - but I believe that is an Ancestry stipulation, not the library system).  Also through the Houston Public Library all I need is my library card and I can access Heritage Quest, which is provided through our TXSHARE (Texas State Library) Program, and several other great things as well.

I carry my private subscription to Ancestry.com because I use it every day so it's worth it to me.  And it takes a lot of money to keep Ancestry up and running and adding new things all the time (the information does not just appear out of nowhere).  

You don't say how large/small your society is, but looking at the AncestryPlus library version at $1600 divided by 12 months = $133 a month or $30.77 a week.  Now divided by the number of members, is that 'too much?'  Yes, it may be if you have a very small society. Have you divided it by the number of members and figured that cost into your dues? 

NO! I am not an employee of Ancestry, nor have anything to do with it other than as a user --- only offering the suggestion to consider.

Do I presume correctly that your society has some sort of small library where everyone can go to use the personal Ancestry subscription you now have?  That's great, but folks don't forget that with the advent of home computers we've greatly forsaken our public libraries and if they are not used they soon may be no more.  I'm guilty of doing almost all my census work from home and don't actually go to the library nearly as much as I used to ---- a situation that I plan to remedy shortly when my schedule changes again.  But use your library! 'Everything' is not on the computer and a lot of what is still needs to be double-checked for accuracy.
   If you do have a small society library and your society is 501(c)(3), then have you considered applying for a grant to fund that subscription?  

Trevia Wooster Beverly
Houston, Texas
(Charter Member, Clayton Library Friends)

Visit us at Houston Public Library: http://www.hpl.lib.tx.us/index.html
Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research: http://www.hpl.lib.tx.us/clayton/
 Clayton Library Friends:  http://www.houstonlibrary.org/clayton/clf/clf.html 
   * and a new site in progress: http://www.claytonlibraryfriends.org/ 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Linda van der Veur 
  To: Librarians Serving Genealogists 
  Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 10:42 PM
  Subject: [Genealib] Ancestry Off Site

  Our local genealogical society has been using the personal Ancestry.com subscription for a number of years.  Now we are told that we will need to subscribe to the Library version which will cost us about $1,600.00 per year.  It's much too expensive for our small society so we will not renew the subscription.  It's very frustrating that we would be charged the same as any large library but it seems they need to squeeze as much money out of libraries that they can.  (As you can see, I'm very disgusted with Ancestry.)  What I need to know (without calling Ancestry and getting more frustrated),  could Ancestry.com be available to our local society using a subscription through our public library such as we do with Heritage Quest.  We are able to access Heritage Quest by logging on at our genealogy library and using our public library card as the password.  This might be the answer for small libraries/societies like ours.  Have any other small libraries had this same problem?  If so, how did you handle it?

  Linda Collison van der Veur
  Napa, California

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