I am not going to repeat the whole press release, you can read about the proposed agreement between Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org here and a lot of other places if you look. As I would say, the jury hasn't heard the evidence yet, much less is out considering the case. Since I have an Ancestry.com subscription, any sharing of documents between Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org really doesn't impact me. But I would like to see how it works (or doesn't) before making any general statement.
I have talked about the issue of the monetization of records in the past and will probably discuss this again in the future. My list of blog post topics is growing rapidly.
But what does it mean?
ReplyDeleteWill all of this end up being just a horrible tease to get more subscriptions for ancestry?
Currently I'm studying so my financial funds are extremly limited. My research is pretty much on a stand-still.
There are several microfilms in the vault that I'm always thinking about ordering, because I KNOW they have the exact information I need!
What documents will be included in the "Billion Records" project?
Will my Pomerania documents make the cut?
I index a lot, so I know there is an indexing project of Pomerania documents for some time now ... and progress is very slow.
So I guess "my" Pomerania records are not considered a high priority as these other Pomerania documents are so slowly getting indexed?
And even if my documents make the cut - what will the information on familysearch look like?
Like the information you get from the US Census 1880? You get the basic information and you see who else lives in the household. There is a link to ancestry to see the scans.
Another example is the US Census 1860.
Now those entries are frustrating. You get the name and some information, but most of the time I'm not really sure if this really is my ancestor!
But at least I get the page number and entry number.
And with the US Census I am super-lucky as I can see the scans on archives.gov.
But what about all the documents that are not on archives.gov??
I certainly wouldn't find my Pomerania records there.
Back when I started indexing, the website said, in the future indexers would get certain "perks" in access ... never heard from that again. (That was not the reason I started indexing, but still, it stuck in my mind.)
You can access ancestry for free in the familysearch centres, I know.
But try finding out where they are!
There is one within a few walking minutes in my family's hometown. But I didn't know for years!
There is also one in my university town - I still don't know where exactly or how to make contact with them!
So I want to be happy with this announcement, but .......
Here's the link to the FamilySearch Center locator
Deletehttps://familysearch.org/locations/
Thanks for your comment.
Thank you James! :)
DeleteI finally found the address for the centre in Köln. (Although I had to re-load that page many times.)
The wiki-page that is linked as "go to website" is "empty". (Knew that wiki-page already.)