OmahaMom: I am a volunteer transcriber and spend many hours reading minute print to add to your records. I wish not to be paid, but I pay dues to the Gen Societies I belong to. There seems to be a greed element here. OmahaMom@aol.com wrote: > There's a lot of ways to look at this thing. > > Personally, I see nothing wrong with Genealogical Societies putting out > information at a reasonable price so that others can benefit from its > availability. (Not everything is available from the Family History Centers.) > Most Societies, being non-profit in nature, recycle any "profits" into > projects that will further research. (Our Society here in Omaha is working to > put all of the released federal censuses into the public library, for > example.) If it were done on the basis of paying a reasonable wage to the > volunteers, plus all the other costs of running a business, there would be far > less genealogical material made available to people so readily. You can > imagine if funeral directors were inundated with people inquiring about their > ancestors, they'd soon stop being so generous with their information, and of > necessity, begin to charge for their time and materials. > Many records aren't available on the 'net (somebody had to put them there, > and that took time, effort, and cash from someone). Not everybody has 'net > access...or is interested in obtaining it. (Who are we to question their > decision?) The more that Societies put out, the more accessible information > comes to people. Yes, at some point, families went to the funeral home in > grief, made their selections, created the records. But sometimes those > records are the only trace we're going to find of someone during certain > periods. If you live halfway across the country from where someone you loved > died, you may have no idea where to start looking for the information when > there is no death certificate from the time period. (Talk about price > gouging--what about the prices some states & counties are asking for birth, > death and marriage certificate copies 100 or more years old?) > Additionally, remember that many times costs are incurred by volunteers. > If I go to our library to do lookups, I have to drive, or take a bus. If I > drive, I have to pay parking. There are also copy and postage costs. As an > RN, I get paid a very good salary--when I do lookups, I don't charge for my > time--but with the nursing shortage in our city right now, I could be working > and making far more than I'd charge to do people's lookups. Yes, if they want > copies, I do charge a small fee for each copy--less than the ones advertised > in such places as the Genealogical Helper--but anything gained gets turned > into more microfilms for the library--so everybody benefits, not just myself. > Other volunteers do the same thing. > So let's all help Societies make more records more available to all of us. > Join your local one and volunteer. Join one from where your ancestors > started, and be a long-distance volunteer. Be part of the solution, rather > than just griping about potential problems. There are records we're working > on in an effort to make them accessible that haven't been available. Should > everything be donated: travel time, search time, copies, everything? Should > those away from the home town gain everything, and nothing be put back in to > keep the wellsprings functioning? > Pretty soon the volunteer sources burn out. If we're concerned about the > costs of purchasing materials and are afraid that some far away society is > going to get rich on the volumes we buy, purchase them, use them, and donate > them to the nearest library that has genealogical resources...it might cut > down on their sales--but the work would be made available to others. > > Karen