Monday, March 2, 2009

NGS has a new Web Site look

I am a member of the National Genealogical Society, and really enjoy and appreciate the three publications produced by the society:

* The National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ) - a quarterly peer-reviewed journal with genealogy research oriented articles.

* The NGS Magazine - a quarterly news magazine with society event news, research articles, and columns.

* UpFront with NGS - a FREE monthly email and online newsletter with NGS information about national, regional and local society news and events, and research articles.

The home page of the Society has been updated - it looks like this:



There are tabs across the top for References for Researching, Educational courses, Publications, Conferences & Events, Awards & Competitions, About a Member, Become a Member, and Members Only. The Member login is on the right sidebar.

The References for Researching page is shown below:


This page includes information on Tutorials, NGS Article Archive, NGS Standards and Guidelines, Additional Resources, and NGS Book Loan Collection.

The Members Only page looks like this:




The information on the Members Only page includes Publication Archives, Database Resources, Research Resources, and Member Discount Pricing.

The National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ) is online in PDF format from 2002. There is an online NGSQ Index (1912-2008) for all NGSQ issues - searchable by author name, article title, article category (choose Bible Records, Family History Writing Contest Winners, African-American Features, NGSQ Award of Excellence Winner, Reviews), or year indexed.

The Database offerings include:
* The National Intelligencer, 1800–1850 -- Abstracts from The National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), 1800–1850.
* NGS Bible Records -- The NGS Bible Records collection is currently being indexed and digitized.
* NGS Member Ancestry Charts (MACs) -- The massive collection of family group sheets sent in by NGS members since the 1960s is being indexed and digitized.

The Research Resources include:
* Research Aids and Forms -- Download free research forms as published in The Organized Family Historian: How to File, Manage, and Protect Your Genealogical Research and Heirlooms, by Ann Carter Fleming.
* Research Forums -
** Central European Forum

There are quite a few resources within each Research Forum - each of them has a Message Board, a Mailing List, a Research Guide and a Book List. There are no messages at this time on the Message Board. The Research Guides and Book Lists look to be well done and helpful (except the pages for Germany are not populated).

NGS has really improved their web site look and content. It seems easier for members to navigate than previously. The publications are first-rate - I look forward to receiving them.

If you want to read some issues of the NGSQ or NGS Magazine, you could visit a local public or genealogy library and see what is on the shelf.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The new site has better web standard conformance than the old one.
That is nice, but as I twittered some ten days ago already, the new site disrespect their own web legacy by breaking all deep links!

http://twitter.com/TamuraJones/statuses/1230242301

That was breaking news then, and it has still not been fixed yet :-(

Ironically, the NGS has web publishing standards that admonishes members to "keep the information current, the links valid", but their own site is not leading by example.