Link between HeritageQuest and FamilySearch.org

HeritageQuestOnline.com has a new direct link to FamilySearch.org's Learning Center. As far as I am aware, this is the first time that a major online subscription database has created a direct link to a FamilySearch website. Clicking on the link takes you directly to a list of available online genealogical research courses. When you choose one of the courses, you go directly to the course online on FamilySearch.org.

HeritageQuestOnline.com is available only through public libraries across the U.S. Access to the program is obtained by having a library card and a login for the library's online resources. I usually get access through the Maricopa County Public Library System, where I have a library card.

It was also interesting to note that HeritageQuest's parent company, ProQuest.com is a major supplier of online research services to libraries. Here is a listing of some their genealogical offerings in addition to HeritageQuest:

• Ancestry® Library Edition features over 200 billion images in more than 7,000 unique databases via a library edition of the popular Ancestry.com website
• ProQuest® African American Heritage focuses exclusively on resources devoted to African American family history research
• Historic Map Works™ Library Edition provides the largest digital collection of historic maps with nearly 1 million maps and growing
• ProQuest Sanborn Maps Geo Edition (1867-1970) provides digital access to thousands of large-scale maps of American towns and cities, searchable by address and GPS coordinates.
• Digital Sanborn® Maps details over 100 years of urban growth in America with more than 600,000 property and land-use records
• ProQuest® Historical Newspapers delivers a definitive digital archive of significant regional, national, and international newspapers
• ProQuest® Black Historical Newspapers delivers a definitive digital archive of newspapers published by and for the African American community

I also noticed that ProQuest is now listed as one of the major corporate and organization sponsors of the 1940 U.S. Census Project. On May 10, 2012, ProQuest issued a press release stating:

ProQuest is joining forces with Archives.com, FamilySearch International, and findmypast.com in the 1940 US Census Community Project, a collaborative effort to index the contents of the newly released U.S. 1940 Census. ProQuest will add the new census content to its acclaimed HeritageQuest Online, one of libraries' most valued and widely used genealogical tools. ProQuest's participation in the project provides major financial support to the indexing effort, which enables all its partners to ingest content more affordably, providing timely delivery to their users.

 With the addition of the link directly from ProQuest to FamilySearch, it certainly looks like the connection between the two services will extend beyond simply hosting the Census.