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(Note from the Washington State Library: In order to participate in the Spring 2000 Washington State Databases Trial, each vendor was asked to address questions the Statewide Database Licensing Committee felt were most critical in order for library staff to evaluate products and vendors. Please contact the vendor's representative, listed below, for additional information on this product.)
1. Describe the database product(s). Include information on subject scope, percentage of full-text, dates of coverage, target audience (including age ranges), and how often the contents are updated.
Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com ( http://www.ancestry.com/ ) is the premier online resource for tracing family history. Ancesty.com makes accessible through one simple search more than 500 million names contained in the most comprehensive and diverse collection of online genealogical databases available. Ancestry.com's commitment to adding new databases every business day keeps professional genealogists, hobbyists and novices coming back to use the service.
Recognized as a leading source for family history date in top publications including Red Herring, Wired, and Time, Ancestry.com's commitment to leadership in the market is grounded in a 15-year heritage of genealogy publishing. Ancestry.com is a service from Ancestry.com, Inc. tm, which also offers internet properties MyFamily.com (http://www.myfamily.com ) and FamilyHistory.com ( http://www.familyhistory.com/ ). Investors in Ancestry.com, Inc. include @Ventures, the affiliated venture capital are of CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI), AOL, Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ), Tango, Group Arnault, Pivotal Management LLC and Amerindo Investment Advisory, Inc.
Ancestry.com is poised to take advantage of the explosive growth of the internet commerce, and anticipates exponential growth in its database collection. We have recently acquired databases such as AIS Federal Census Indexes for the years 1790-1870 (32 million records), the Civil War Research Database (120 million records), the entire PERSI collection, and the American Genealogical and Biographical Index (AGBI) (5 million records) (http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/recent.asp ). Before the end of 2000, Ancestry.com will post an additional 20 million vital records, among many other databases. Currently we average an addition of five databases daily, expecting to have 1 billion records by 2001.
The value of subscribing to Ancestry.com is always increasing. Due to royalties and many other costs involved in the purchase of new databases, inevitably our membership prices will increase. This is an important factor to consider in the addition and expansion of library media materials. Ancestry.com is the most user-friendly, cost-effective way to do research. The Internet is by far the most cost-effective way to provide millions of records to libraries. Our site has significantly increased genealogical activity within libraries. Online genealogy, as you may know, is already becoming a standard. Because of costs involved in the expansion and maintenance of this site your libraries really do save thousands of dollars by gaining access now, rather than in the future.
2. What are the hardware and software requirements for using all the features of the product?
For best results on the Ancestry.com web site, we require that you use a browser version higher than 4.0. If you are accessing the site via America Online, you may need to upgrade your AOL software and browser. The latest version is 5.0, which you can receive through AOL.
3. Is remote access included for the subscription price? If there are additional charges or requirements in order to offer remote access, please describe. What methods of remote access are supported?
As of right now, there is no remote access available for Ancestry subscribers. In the future, this may be an option.
4. Please discuss any methods or assistance you offer regarding remote access patron verification and authentication.
None given.
5. What end user delivery options, such as printing, emailing or faxing results, are available beyond just viewing results on the computer monitor?
Any information on the site can be printed, emailed, faxed, and used for personal use. Nevertheless, pages printed, cannot be sold, re-printed, or publicly used without the proper consent from Ancestry.com.
6. What customer training is provided, and at what cost?
Site instructions can be found on the site here: http://www.ancestry.com/learn/main.htm . There is also a coaching program available, but is does cost money and does not come with the subscription.
7. What customer and technical support is provided, including hours of operation.
Technical support is available Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The number is 801-431-5220. They provide basic Internet search help, along with search techniques for the site. Members can call at any time for any question or concerns they may have regarding Ancestry.com.
8. Describe the statistics you provide, and discuss whether your statistical reporting complies with guidelines developed by the International Coalition of Library Consortia which may be found at www.library.yale.edu/consortia/webstats.html .
We are currently working on statistics program that will allow your library to see stats on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. At the moment, we are looking at a company called SuperStats.com (http://www.superstats.com/), which will allow us to provide any statistical data needed for our clients. We will keep our subscribers posted on the progress of this option.
9. Describe your pricing structure or formula for the product. If there are additional costs for retrieving full text, describe the pricing for this service.
The library site license starts at $399.95 per year, which includes 2 concurrent users. Any additional users are $59.95 per year. The amount of concurrent users needed varies from library to library and demand by their patrons. We do offer a state wide license that we bill according to number of libraries, users and sites needed to accommodate all the usage. These prices can be worked out and will be made exact during the site agreement process.
10. What is the minimum participation level (however you care to define it) that would be needed to allow participating libraries to receive a discount? What is the minimum discount for a group buy? Please clarify how you would treat existing library customers with regard to a group buy.
Number of libraries Annual subscription* Add'l concurrent users - annual fee 1-9 $399.95 $59.95 10-20 $349.55 $49.95 21-49 $324.95 $39.95 50+ $299.95 $34.95 * Annual subscription includes two concurrent users for each site, and a subscription to Ancestry Magazine.
11. Please indicate whether libraries from Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and/or Hawaii would be eligible to participate in the group buying process.
We will be happy to allow any libraries in neighboring states to participate in the discounts offered during the trial period.
12. Please provide name and contact information (toll-free telephone number, e-mail address, hours, etc.) should libraries wish to make further inquires.
John Tolman, email: [email protected]
Casey Child, email: [email protected]
Toll Free number: 1-800-531-1790, fax 1-801-426-3509
Business hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, Mountain time
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