What Do You Expect from a Genealogical Society?

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Aceves Wyble on July 12, 2009 at 12:33am

I think that for me (living about an hour away), what I will like most is the educational events and user group meetings, and of course access to books.

I'd like for there to be a way for general membership to influence which books/technology/etc are purchased, as they are for the greater good of the whole group. (Items donated are, of course, a different matter.)

I like the fact that lookups are available for more distant members, and toward that end I think that getting/keeping the online catalog up to date is very important.

I like the idea of having a group project like the 1890 project. I think that opportunities to give back to the genealogical community as a whole should be emphasized, with some measure of the progress being made. It's encouraging to know other people are working on something; it makes the project less intimidating for each individual.

I think that for the cost of membership, you do get a lot, in particular if you're not paying for your own Ancestry membership! I think that it's good to foster a sense of belonging. The name tags and t-shirts are really good toward that goal. Social events (potluck, etc) are good too. A book or cork board of member pedigrees and/or introductions with pictures would be neat.

These are just my random late-night thoughts, so they may need some refining, but thanks for asking. =)