If you want to continue taking advantage of free at-home access to Ancestry at your local library, you have less than three weeks to do so.
ProQuest recently sent a letter to libraries about the free access, and there’s no doubt that the long run of free remote and at-home access to Ancestry Library Edition (ALE) in public libraries will end December 31.
After the holidays, card holders must visit their library in person to access ALE on the desktop computers provided by their library or on their own personal laptop, tablet, or mobile phone.
In its letter advising librarians of the end of remote service, ProQuest wrote, “After nearly two years of temporary access, and after most libraries reopened their doors, Ancestry has made the difficult decision to end remote access for ALE at the end of 2021.
“Ancestry cares deeply about libraries and their patrons, but they have agreements with publishers and other business considerations that prevent them from offering remote access permanently.”
HeritageQuest Online
According to ProQuest, “For customers who want to maintain remote access, HeritageQuest Online, powered by Ancestry, continues to offer the best solution.”
Some libraries, such as Toronto Public Library and Edmonton Public Library, offer this online resource, but not many others do so in Canada.
An easy way to find out if your library provides this resource is to search HeritageQuest in the search box on the library’s website.
Looking at the HeritageQuest Online website, the resources appear to be primarily American, but Toronto Public Library’s website describes it as a “Genealogical resource featuring archival records, family histories and primary sources dating back to the 1700s for the United States and Canada and select countries. Includes city directories, census maps, mortality schedules, obituaries and U.S. Freedman’s Bank records.”
