The following is long, but important to clarify the situation with
HeritageQuest Online.  The remote access through public libraries is not
going away, societies which offered remote access will not be able to do so
after the end of their current contract.
  This was in Dick Eastman's column in June of 2006.


 June 06, 2006 ProQuest Terminates Remote Access for Genealogy Societies

ProQuest announced today that they will be eliminating one valuable
genealogy service. The company will no longer offer remote, in-home access
to the members of genealogical and historical societies.

ProQuest is the company that provides HeritageQuest Online, a collection of
online databases that contain images of original U.S. census records,
Revolutionary War pension applications, more than 20,000 local and family
history books, Freedman's Bank records, and more. In the past few years, I
have written a number of articles about HeritageQuest Online's great
products. You can find my articles at
*http://tinyurl.com/rqg9x*<http://tinyurl.com/rqg9x>.


While not available directly to the general public, tens of thousands of
genealogists access this huge online resource daily. There are essentially
three ways to access the data at HeritageQuest Online:

   1. Go to a local public library or to a genealogical or historical
   society that subscribes to the service, and use the computers there. Access
   is available at thousands of locations around the United States.
   2. Many public libraries offer remote, in-home access. That is, if you
   have a library card from a subscribing library that offers this option, you
   may use your home computer to first access the library's web site, log on,
   and then click on an icon to be connected to HeritageQuest Online. In this
   case, the local public library serves as a "gateway" to HeritageQuest
   Online. Once connected, you have the same access as if you were in the
   library.
   3. Until now, a number of genealogy societies, historical societies,
   and private genealogy libraries also offered remote, in-home access in the
   same manner as do many public libraries. Again, you have the same access as
   if you were in the society's offices. You first connect via the Internet to
   the society's or library's web site, log on, and then click on an icon to be
   connected to HeritageQuest Online.

Today, ProQuest announced that the company is dropping option #3 above. The
company will no longer offer remote, in-home access to the members of
genealogical or historical societies.

Nothing is changing in options #1 and #2 listed above. Subscribing societies
and private libraries will continue to offer access to HeritageQuest Online
from within their own buildings. Public libraries will continue to have an
option to offer remote, in-home access to library patrons. The only change
is for those who obtained remote, in-home access via a genealogy society or
private genealogy library.

Each society has a contract with ProQuest for these services. The
termination date of the remote access service will be on whatever date that
contract expires. As a result, a few genealogy societies may be able to
offer remote, in-home access for nearly another year while others will be
dropping the service within a few weeks. The dates all depend upon the
expiration dates of the various contracts.

*Commentary by Dick Eastman:*

When I first heard that ProQuest was going to drop in-home access for
members of genealogical and historical societies, I was not too surprised. I
knew from previous conversations that remote access for genealogical and
historical society members was an experiment when it was started a couple of
years ago. ProQuest's primary marketplace has always been public libraries,
not societies.

ProQuest had little experience with genealogists or with genealogy
societies. I assume that pricing and projected expenses were based on some
form of "best guess" method at that time, subject to change as the company
gained experience with this new marketplace.

I had an opportunity to discuss all this a few days ago with two senior
managers at ProQuest: Chris Cowan, Vice President of Publishing and Rod
Gauvin, Senior Vice President of Publishing. My earlier assumptions were
confirmed. In fact, early in our conversation it became obvious that these
two gentlemen and their colleagues had not arrived at the decision quickly
or easily.

Both Chris and Rod assured me that ProQuest values the genealogy community.
In fact, they have been delighted and amazed at the reception that
HeritageQuest Online received in the genealogy marketplace.

The usage of these genealogy databases from public libraries has been more
or less consistent with that of other databases that ProQuest offers through
libraries. The one thing about HeritageQuest Online that was radically
different was the remote, in-home usage offered through genealogical and
historical societies: this usage far surpassed anything that ProQuest had
expected. Obviously, this high usage also creates higher expenses for the
company providing the data.

Chris Cowan quoted from a letter he sent to all genealogical societies and
libraries that offer HeritageQuest Online:

*After a review of 2005 usage statistics, we confirmed that genealogical and
historical societies are the heaviest users of ProQuest databases.  This
usage is well beyond the assumptions under which the pricing was initially
developed and before gaining the experience of working with these
societies.  ProQuest continues to absorb high costs to provide the data at a
significant financial loss because of the relatively low price points
offered to societies.*

In other words, gung-ho genealogists loved this offering. We genealogists
used the ProQuest databases for many hours, far above the usage that
ProQuest experiences with its hundreds of other databases. Unfortunately,
this increases ProQuest's expenses, and yet the prices charged for access
has not produced enough revenue to cover those higher-than-expected
expenses.

While Chris and Rod did not state it as bluntly as I will, it is obvious to
me and to almost every other person in the business world that no company
can long afford "to provide the data at a significant financial loss".
Genealogists should not be surprised to see this access go away.

Chris Cowan and Rod Gauvin also strongly stressed that there is no change
for public libraries. Library patrons can continue to access HeritageQuest
Online both from within library building as well as from home, if the local
library offers such access. Indeed, thousands of public libraries around the
United States do so. While you may no longer access HeritageQuest Online via
your genealogy society's web site, you probably can do the same (for less
money) from a local library's web site.

Indeed, I had access to HeritageQuest Online via three different paths: two
via genealogy societies I belong to and one via a public library near me. I
will now lose two of those access paths, but the third remains in place for
me and will work well. You may find the same is true for you.

In fact, Chris Cowan's letter to ProQuest's society customers states:

*A key component of the ProQuest mission is to provide public library users
with historical newspaper and genealogy content, as well as other data,
through their local public library, either on-site or remotely.  Our
business model has been created to ensure that public libraries subscribing
to ProQuest products can provide access to their end-users.  By working
through public libraries, we are able to keep the cost of ProQuest content
affordable to individual libraries and free to their patrons.*

After my conversation with the ProQuest VPs, I decided to investigate the
alternative access methods available. The Encyclopedia of Genealogy has long
maintained a list of organizations that offer in-home access to
HeritageQuest Online, public libraries and genealogy societies alike. The
page is available at
*http://www.eogen.com/HeritageQuestOnline*<http://www.eogen.com/HeritageQuestOnline>.
A quick scan of that page shows that remote, in-home access to HeritageQuest
Online remains available free of charge to:

   - All residents of California
   - All residents of Colorado
   - Any Connecticut Public Library Card holder (library cards are free)
   - All residents of Delaware
   - Most Florida residents, but not all, have free in-home access to
   HeritageQuest Online through Florida's library cooperatives.
   - Hawaiian residents may obtain free access through the Hawaii State
   Public Library System.
   - All Kansas residents have remote access to HeritageQuest Online. You
   will need a Kansas Library Card, available at any Public Library.
   - Any Maryland Public Library Card holder automatically has remote
   access thru Sailor, a project of Maryland Public Libraries. Contact your
   local library to obtain a card in order to gain access to all Sailor
   resources.
   - All Massachusetts residents can obtain free remote access to HQ
   using the Boston Public Library's online gateway.
   - All Nebraska residents have remote access to HeritageQuest Online
   via the Nebraska Library Commission, operated by the State of Nebraska. Your
   Nebraska driver's license number serves as a library card and will give you
   free access to many online databases.
   - All New Hampshire residents have remote access to HeritageQuest
   Online through the state's NHewLink provided by the NH State Library.
   - Virtually all libraries in the state of North Carolina offer
   HeritageQuest Online from the library buildings. Many of those libraries
   also offer remote access, although not all do so.
   - All Ohio residents can obtain free remote access to HQ. Most local
   public libraries subscribe. If your local library does not, all Ohio
   residents can get a card from the Columbus Metropolitan Library, which does
   give you access.
   - Pennsylvania residents who have library cards with ACCESS PA
   stickers, but do not have remote access thru their own library, may be able
   to get a free card from one of the participating libraries within the
   system.
   - All South Dakota residents can obtain free online access via the
   South Dakota State Library.
   - Texas residents who are registered patrons of public or academic
   libraries can obtain free remote access to HeritageQuest Online through the
   TexShare Databases program. Access is available free of charge.
   - HeritageQuest Online can be accessed from any Utah public library &
   all but a few from your home. How you get into the databases depends on
   where you live and which library is offering access. Check with your local
   library for details.
   - All Vermont residents may obtain remote, in-home access to
   HeritageQuest Online via the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. The
   required library cards are free to those in surrounding towns while more
   distant Vermont residents will need to pay $12.50 for a card.
   - All residents of Wyoming can have remote access through the state
   library.

The above is not a complete list. Indeed, it does not list any of the
thousands of local libraries that provide free remote access to
HeritageQuest Online. However, it does show that free or very low cost
access to HeritageQuest Online is available to millions of Americans, even
after the genealogical and historical societies are not able to offer
access. Further details may be found at *
http://www.eogen.com/HeritageQuestOnline*<http://www.eogen.com/HeritageQuestOnline>

All in all, this will be an inconvenience for many genealogists, but not a
disaster. In fact, I suspect it will be a pleasant surprise for many to
discover they already have free access to something they used to pay for.

ProQuest's reduction in service options provides an excellent opportunity to
get to know your local public library. That sounds like a good thing to me.



On 3/13/07, D. Briggs <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Do you have any idea when the Heritage Quest remote access contract will
> expire?  I just discovered this wonderful website and I was able to track
> the migration of 2 lost lines of my family within a matter of hours.  I
> had
> been searching for years to figure out where they went until I found the
> census data on that site.
>
> I currently have remote access through a university and have been able to
> work from my home on it.
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions
> at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html
>



-- 
Robin D. Dombrowsky
2308 Hidden Lake Drive
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
727-785-9268

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