The genealogical world is buzzing with newly codified standards from two of its major organizations. The new BCG Genealogical Standards Manual , written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists and published by Ancestry Publishing, was introduced at the NGS Conference in Providence. Standards for Sound Genealogical Research, Standards for Using Records Repositories and Libraries, and Standards for Use of Technology in Genealogical Research. All five sets of NGS standards can be viewed on the NGS Web site .
Standards are important in any methodological research project, and genealogy is no exception.
These new additions to the knowledge base for family history research will help newcomers and experienced researchers to hone their skills and ensure they re not stepping on anyone s toes along the way. The timing of the releases was advantageous. This means the number of people potentially exploring their family s background could be in the neighborhood of 164,700,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau s projections for the national population in the year 2000. In 1995, the Maritz Poll showed that 45 percent of Americans were at least somewhat interested in family history, or about 118,260,000 people. The Internet is probably a key factor in the growth in popularity of genealogy, but one has to wonder how many of these new researchers are taking the time to learn about accepted genealogical research methods and standards while they re pulling lists of names off of the Internet.