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Archiver > APG > 2007-03 > 1174539408


From: "James W. Petty" <>
Subject: [APG] Ancestry, Family History Library Situation
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:56:48 -0600


I have been speaking with people in the Family History Library administration, and with local professional researchers about the Ancestry – Family History Library debacle, and have learned a few things others may not be aware of. When the Family History begins using an extremely reduced form of Ancestry.com on April 2nd, patrons, including professional researchers will not be able to access their own subscriptions of Ancestry.com on computers used within LDS Church buildings. Ancestry has assigned an ISPN address to the LDS Church in general, which includes the Family History Library, all Church administration buildings around Temple Square in Salt Lake City, and all LDS chapels where Family History Centers are located (including church owned schools like BYU), causing the computers detected as operating at those places to automatically log on to the LDS ISPN. Anyone doing research at any of these facilities desiring to access Ancestry.com will have to go away from the !
buildings to access it with their own laptop computers, or go to public libraries that carry Ancestry.com, or wait until they go home to their desktop computers. This is a situation that Ancestry set up, and the Family History Library has no control over it.

This seems to be in conflict with the agreement that Ancestry.com has made with all of us who have purchased subscriptions of Ancestry.com for which we were told we could access anywhere simply by logging in. Ancestry.com has addressed this forum explaining how they have given so much in this deal with the LDS Church, but receive so little in return. If any of you know the cost for advertising on the Internet in this day and age, you understand the tremendous value Ancestry received working with the Family History Library. All they want now is a subscription fee for each Family History Center under the direction of the Family History Library equivalent to the subscription required from public libraries. I’m told this subscription rate (for an incomplete package) is approximately $1700 per year. Multiply that by 3500 Family History Centers and the cost is just under $Six Million Dollars per year.

I’m not a tax attorney, but since the Family History Library is a division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is a public charity. Shouldn’t Ancestry.com, a $100 million dollar per year corporation, by their agreement to provide their subscription to the Church for free each year, be able to write that full amount off as a charitable donation each year? And still be able to keep that tremendous advantage of free advertising in 3500 libraries across the globe?

I think we need to contact Ancestry with our concerns on this topic.

Sincerely Yours,


James W. Petty, AG®, CGSM, B.A. (History), B.S. (Genealogy)
Ancestors are the People of History. Do you know who yours are?
Let the Professionals at HEIRLINES Family History & Genealogy find your Ancestry!
1-800-570-4049 ▪ www.heirlines.com ▪ PO Box 893 ▪ Salt Lake City, UT 84110



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