In New York, genealogists are worried about the plans of the city’s archives service. The New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) wants to charge for access to certain public documents.
In a first communication, the institution had indicated that perhaps the New York birth, marriage and death certificates could be concerned. The sharing of these documents would be subject to the payment of a license, including if used for educational, academic, non-profit or media purposes …
The presentation of this project had the effect of a bomb on American genealogists and researchers. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society immediately expressed concern and called on its members and supporters to make their voices heard “so that public documents created with taxpayer money remain free accessible “.
However, the NYGB has reported a recent advance: the New York Archives do not “necessarily” intend to charge for the use of genealogical records. Details will be provided soon. But the US genealogists are not at all reassured by this too imprecise communication, in particular on the details of these new licenses: the reproductions would be provided for the personal use of the researcher, this one could neither reproduce nor publish them, nor transfer them to another individual or to another institution.
Hammering the message that genealogists are educators and researchers, the Genealogical and Biographical Society of New York calls on users to be informed and to mobilize for the October 23 date of a hearing of representatives of genealogists on this subject.
–
