As has been reported by bloggers over the past day, the Waterloo Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society is going to re-invent itself as "an e-presence only, with a new website and the creation of a Facebook group. The new website will have a members only section and an e-store. Queries will be handled via this on-line presence”.
The press release that was issued as part of the OGS e-Newsletter on Saturday, said that “Since this Branch is modeled on that of our on-line based Special Interest Groups, the fee, as decided by the Branch, is a bargain of $4 for the first year due to the website being "under construction" as members and the TSIC Committee of OGS work to place items, prior to January 1st, 2016, in the members only section related to research in the County of Waterloo. The same as with other OGS Branch members only sections on websites, the "stocking" of the section will be ongoing. There will be no newsletter, no physical Branch meetings and no postal mailing address”.
The OGS says that that this is a “pilot project authorized by the Board in order to explore alternatives when the volunteer base for a Branch becomes too small to provide all of the services that have been provided in the past”.
So is this the way for the future of the OGS as members disappear? The membership has been decreasing for years, and something had to give, so to speak, and this looks like it may be a solution. What do you think? And this news comes a day after the 2016 re-membership drive starts. It will be interesting time ahead, I think.
As of this morning, the Waterloo Branch still has a website at http://www.waterlooogs.ca/ with limited information. They still have cemetery CDs at for sale at http://www.waterlooogs.ca/cemeteries.htm, and the following family CDs - Bauman/Bowman Family, Bechtel, Bergey, Biehn, Bricker, Eby, Erb, Groh, Hallman, Hoffman, Lichty, Martin, Snyder, Shantz, Wanner and Weber are available for $20 each.
Happy Researching!!
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