Ancestry.co.uk

My Mum is interested in the possibility of joining ancestry.co.uk to
access the census archives online.

Two questions. What information is supplied by joining and is it good
value for money?

myths...

Not in my experience.

Pay-per-view is cheap, and one doesn't have to remember to cancel.
One can do a great deal of seaching, downloading if necessary to
enable the next search, and then use the unsed views at the end of the
time.

I agree it is a good thing to set some time aside when signing up for
a short period..

Hugh Watkins...

you need broadband

census 1841 to 1901 excellent value
much cheaper than pay per view

take an annual subscription
give her 10 days to decide out of the 14 days free trial
take note of how to unsubscribe and do it in time

It is a delight to have it at home instead of at the library (freebie )

Lesley Williams...

How do you get your local library to subscribe to it?

Hugh Watkins...

Solihull library committee had a meeting about it

ask a librariam

Hugh W

Charani...

I asked my local library and they said they hadn't the finances for a
subscription. End of subject :((

Jeff...

It may not help you but, locally, all our LDS FHCs have full
subscriptions.

I don't know if this applies worldwide.

Hugh Watkins...

if they have a connection to the net

yes it does - contact the distribution cnter to set it up

BTW some FHS in USA pay a subscritpiuon for their locallibraries

and in UK some FHS subscribe too

Hugh W

Charani...

I'm not sure if either of those nearest to me have. The closest one
(20 miles away) is only open two half days a week, so probably
doesn't. The other (35 miles away) may well do since they are open 5˝
days a week. I'd have to persuade my husband that it really would be
a very good idea to take me to the larger one ;))

Hugh W

Dominic...

Many Thanks Hugh,

She ended up with a headache looking through tons of microfiche and she
has a wifi computer at home :)

Hugh Watkins...

i was an early adopter when it strted and I had to wait ayear for=20
Bristol and Monmouthshire

just now I am using the ancestrylibrary edition

without the advance viewer
images download in about 5 secs at Solihull or Birmingham libraries

but the latter grinds to a halt as a peoples network when the library=20
is full of kids doing homework

you still have to head for the archives
when I can afford it I will pay the =A3200 for the whole deluxe subscri=
ption

If she lieks to work broadly it is great for getting cousins in 19th=20
century

Hugh W

Ye Old One...

That depends on how many things she is going to look up. To be honest
I think it is very overpriced. Compared to other sites I know the
price is not bad, but then other sites are overpriced as well.

To a large extent they are charging you to access information that
should be freely available - our taxes paid for the census after all
so why should we have to pay to access it?

caryatis_1...

Hasn't this old chestnut been laid to rest since the 1901 debate? Our

Hugh Watkins...

you pay for access to the server not the data
whch is still freely available in London or Kew

Hugh W

taxes have not paid for the censuses as they arrive on the internet.

Ye Old One...

Our taxes paid for the census and for its storage/protection since it
was completed. The actual data therefore belongs to us.

These companies spend millions of pounds getting them transcribed so
you can search them properly, and digitising the images so you can view
them from the comfort of your own home. They then pay the government a

Ye Old One...

A service fore which a small charge could be made - the current
charges allow them to make a mammoth profit.

royalty on the revenue they generate from your payments.

Ye Old One...

Truth this government to extract money from the people for data that
is already their property.

You are still welcome to travel to London and view them for free at the
Family Records Centre, at the tax payer's expense. Do you remember what
it was like searching through the films before there were national name
indexes?

Or you can perform some simple searches from your home computer or
local library. Why exactly should this be provided to you for free?

Ye Old One...

Because it is our data.

If they had set up a system where UK residents paid a small "start-up"

Hugh Watkins...

30,

fee, say Ł10, and where overseas people paid a larger amount, say Ł30,
then I don't think I would object. The costs involved would have been
recovered in a matter of months and everyone woul dbe happy.

At the moment the charges levied by people like Ancestory.co.uk are
FAR to high. Move the decimal point left one place and they would
still make money.

Hugh Watkins...

you must be thick

data is still owned by "us"
we make a profit on it from the fees paid to TNA

one hand washes the other

Hugh W

Just my opinion, I know.

What I would say is tell her to sign up for the 14 day trial. Do so
when she has a lot of time to spare so she can make the most of it.
Use the email address to cancel about mid-day on the last day (making
sure that last day is a weekday) and then sit back and think to
herself "was it worth Ł70 a year?" In the ned only she can tell.