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FreeREG Syndicate Coordinators Information Pages |
The purpose of these pages is to provide Syndicate Coordinators with additional information to assist them in their tasks.
One of the most important functions to be performed by the Coordinator is that of ensuring that their transcribers have data to transcribe. Without that data we simply cannot function.
As most of you will know from reading the general pages of FreeREG, the main source of parish register information is the County Records Office. Most County Records Offices permit researchers to visit their premises and view copies of the parish registers. Usually these copies are in microform, either fiche or films. Sometimes copies of these microform are available in the main local library. There is normally no provision for transcribers or their representatives to borrow parish register microform from County Records Offices. Some Records Offices will sell copies of microform for use by researchers. Unfortunately the costs of these can become excessive for large parishes. While some transcribers have their own fiche reader few transcribers have ready access to the high magnification Microfilm readers.
Should you wish to purchase microform for the use of your transcribers and do not have available sources of funding, contact the Finance team to determine if there are funds available in the project budget to support the acquisition.
In some cases you may want to create a digital copy of the microform for a transcriber without ready access to a reader. This is technically possible with modern day scanners. Please contact FreeREG fiche copying coordinatorsto determine the availability of the equipment.
Some Family History Societies have acquired fiche or film from their records offices and might be willing to allow members to make transciptions from these microform for FreeREG. This may be difficult to arrange for a number of reasons. For example their agreement with the Records Office may only permit the society to create their own transcript for their own use. A FreeREG transcript may be viewed as contravening this agreement. In addition, some societies are not in favour of the FreeREG activity as they perceive it may reduce their revenues.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has copies of many parish registers as a result of their strong interest in genealogy. Copies can be borrowed and viewed at the local family history centre by any researcher. This is an effective way of proceeding for those transcribers living in large communities with an LDS Family History Centre.
The FreeBMD Society, of which FreeREG is part, has an arrangement with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that provides for Coordinators to borrow copies of parish registers from them for the sole purpose of creating an index. These copies must be returned within two years together with a copy of the index created. In addition, the coordinator must provide a progress report each six months. In some cases the data will be provided to the coordinator in digital form (as a DVD), thus eliminating the need for microform readers. See: Acquiring data from the LDS for detailed information on this process.
This is something that everyone is worried about. But the bottom line is that the Facts in the Parish Registers that FreeREG is interested in are not subject to copyright, so it does not matter where you get them from. But anyone producing a transcript or image of a register eg a fiche or film, has rights over the "copying, publication and distribution" of the transcript or image but you can use the facts contained in them. Since FreeREG is only a search facility, and is free, then we are not breeching the rights of the owner. However, as a matter of courtesy and to keep friends with others in genealogy research, you should ask their permission to use their images or transcripts. Do make sure that if you receive images or transcripts, that these are used solely as working documents for transcribing and are not put on the transcriber's web site or passed to anyone else.
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