JENKINTOWN, Pennsylvania (GBT) — The Jenkintown Library canceled its subscription to Ancestry.com Library Edition earlier this month. A library official confirmed that budgetary considerations prompted the change.
Jenkintown Library's subscription to Ancestry.com has been one of Tim G.'s primary research vehicles since he moved to Jenkintown from Northeast Philadelphia in January of 2020. The library, in cooperation with ProQuest, provided remote access to Ancestry.com's Library Edition throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued to provide remote access long after many other public libraries ceased doing so in January of 2022.
The recent decision by the library ends in-library access to Ancestry.com. "I looked forward to visiting the library in-person for research," said Tim. "It's a short walk from where I live, and the building is historic. I was disappointed to learn that in-person research would no longer be available there."
The library official with whom TIm G. spoke recommended that he visit other nearby libraries, such as the Abington Township Public Library and the Elkins Park Free Library, the latter of which is a part of the Cheltenham Township Library System. While still local, these libraries are further away from Tim G.'s home in Jenkintown.
Losing access to Ancestry.com through the Jenkintown Library prompted Tim G. to search for other free or low-cost alternatives for accessing the service. This led to the discovery of AncestryClassroom last week at Roxborough High School, where Tim works during the day.
"I've done research on Newspapers.com during my lunch breaks at the school before, and I noticed that it logs me in through The School District of Philadelphia, rather through my personal account," said Tim. "It's actually a little irksome because the School District's account does not have access to the Publisher Extra content. Since Ancestry.com owns Newspapers.com, I wondered whether I could log into Ancestry as well, so I typed 'ancestryinstitution.com' into the search bar. To my surprise it actually worked! It redirected me to ancestryclassroom.com, which I hadn't known about before, but yeah. I was researching again in no time."
Ancestry.com's suite of research tools, including AncestryClassroom, the standard subscription to Newspapers.com, and the library edition of Fold3 are all available through School District of Philadelphia internet connections.
"I'm not sure how well publicized this is," Tim said. "It may be a social studies thing, because I've been teaching math for five years and I've never heard of it. I'll surely be staying late at school a lot more often now!"
Tim expressed renewed interest in sponsoring an after-school genealogy club at Roxborough. "I wasn't quite sure how to go about gauging interest for that, but now I kinda want to find out. It would be a shame to let these great resources sit unused."
After-school clubs require at least five student participants in order to receive official school recognition and funding. ⬮
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