Georgia County websites must conform to the USGenWeb guildlines. Please visit their County Site Guidelines page for information on site content, maintenance and useful links. Particularly, visit the USGenWeb Logo page to get details and images for displaying the official GAGenWeb logo on your websites.
Additionally, please familiarize yourself with information on copyright laws as posted on the USGenWeb site.
To keep the team informed on relevant issues regarding the GAGenWeb Project and to allow members to network and help each other, each member of the GAGenWeb project is required to subscribe to the MailList. You will be subscribed by the SC or the ASC.
The GAGenWeb Project ByLaws
Article 1: Name
The name of this organization shall be “The GAGenWeb Project.”
Article 2: Purpose
The USGenWeb Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free access for everyone. Organized by county and state, the Project’s website provides links to all the State websites which, in turn, provide gateways to the counties. The USGenWeb Project also sponsors important Special Projects at the national level, and the national website provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well.
The GAGenWeb Project is part of The USGenWeb Project. The purpose of The GAGenWeb Project shall be to locate, upload, and provide free access to data of a genealogical and historical nature, and to provide research direction and referral to other sources, whenever possible, for the benefit of those pursuing genealogical research in the State of Georgia.
Article 3: Membership
Membership in The GAGenWeb Project is granted to County Coordinators. The State Coordinator (SC) shall appoint County Coordinators as described in the GAGenWeb Policies and Procedures (P&P).
Each County shall have no more than two (2) Coordinators. In most cases, a person will be limited to hosting 3 sites but if someone wants to adopt more than 3 counties, they will have to meet the following criteria:
- Having been a member in good standing for at least 2 years.
- Having consistently answered roll calls and been responsive to other communication from State and Assistant State Coordinators.
- Have shown a consistent practice of keeping the sites they already have up to date with links checked and shown a willingness to add data to the sites.
The decision to allow a CC to adopt more than 3 counties at one time will be up to the SC and ASC.
A County Coordinator may appoint additional assistants if desired. A County Coordinator may be removed for cause as described in the GAGenWeb Policies and Procedures (P&P).
Each County Coordinator shall have one vote in GAGenWeb elections, regardless of the number of counties they coordinate. Assistants appointed by a Coordinator are not considered members and thus shall not vote in GAGenWeb elections.
Article 4: Officers and Support Team
An election for State Coordinator (SC) will be held in July in odd-numbered years. The term shall be for two years, beginning August 1. Any member of The GAGenWeb Project who has been a County Coordinator (CC) in The GAGenWeb Project for at least one year, and is willing to act as State Coordinator as outlined in the Bylaws of The USGenWeb Project and The GAGenWeb Project, is eligible to run for State Coordinator.
After the election, the SC shall appoint an Assistant State Coordinator (ASC) whose term shall run concurrently with the SC. The SC may also appoint additional technical assistants as outlined in the Policies & Procedures (P&P) to assist with the state website and other related duties. If such assistants are appointed, their terms shall also run concurrently with the SC.
If the SC should leave the position for any reason during his or her term of office, the ASC will act as the SC until a new SC can be elected to complete the term. If less than 4 months remain of the SC’s term of office, the ASC will act as the SC for the remainder of the term.
Regional Assistants will be elected by the CCs within each region to provide guidance and support to the CCs in that region. This election will occur no later than two (2) months after the SC election. The term of office shall be for two (2) years, beginning October 1. Regional Assistants, together with any technical assistants appointed by the SC, shall be known collectively as the GAGenWeb Support Team. Members of the Support Team will have no governing power, but shall have responsibilities as outlined in the P&P.
Policies and Procedures (P&P)
1) Appointment of Coordinators
County Coordinators shall be appointed by the State Coordinator (SC). The position of Coordinator shall be granted to candidates who have a belief in the GAGenWeb purpose statement; a willingness to maintain and improve a county website; agreement to abide by the GAGenWeb Bylaws and Policies and Procedures; and a sincere desire to assist researchers.
Knowledge of building and maintaining web pages is not a prerequisite; if needed, new coordinators may receive assistance in learning the process from members of the GAGenWeb Support Team. New coordinators will be expected to become proficient in handling web pages within three months after being appointed.
2) Removal of Coordinators
A county coordinator may be removed for failing to uphold his/her responsibilities. The coordinator shall have a four-month probation period to comply with requirements, after which, if the situation is not corrected, the coordinator will be dismissed and his/her counties will be put up for adoption. The state coordinator has the authority to extend the probation period to allow for mitigating circumstances.
In the instance of a probationary period, the SC will contact the CC three times:
- at the beginning of the probationary period, stating the reason for the probation;
- again in the middle of the period (at 2 months); and
- again one week before the conclusion of the probationary period. A copy of the SC’s communications will be cc’ed to the ASC.
In cases where the site appears to have been abandoned and the CC has not been responding to roll call for a year and doesn’t respond to correspondence regarding the probationary period within a
month, the SC/ASC can make a determination regarding putting the website up for adoption and retrieving the data to move forward for researchers with a functioning website and a responsive contact.
3) County Coordinator (CC) Responsibilities
- Maintain county website as required in the site requirements listed in the P&P, uploading data when appropriate and keeping links up to date
- Respond to communications from researchers, SC, ASC, RA
- Answer roll call
- Report change of email address to SC and/or RA
- Be subscribed to the GAGEN-L or GAGEN-D (digest mode) mailing list. Note that when an applicant is accepted, subscription is handled by the list administrator(s).
- Follow USGenWeb guidelines for CCs: http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/scccguidelines.html
4) State Coordinator (SC) Responsibilities
Election
In the election year, the current SC will open nominations for the new SC for a period of two weeks, beginning on or about June 1. At the close of nominations, candidates may post campaign pages. The current SC shall find two non-GAGenWeb Project members who are members of the USGenWeb Project who are willing to take responsibility for counting votes for the election. These vote-counters will be added to the GAGEN-L list for the duration of the election.
Responsibilities
- Appointing local/county coordinators. Dismissing coordinators, if necessary
- Monitoring all county websites
- Maintaining the state mailing list, GAGEN-L
- Supervising the state web page
- Issuing quarterly roll call
- Maintaining national voters list, updating quarterly
- Informing CCs of activities of the USGenWeb (for example: voting issues)
- Responding to communication from CCs and researchers
- Recruiting start-up help for new volunteers
- USGenWeb guidelines for SCs: http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/scccguidelines.html
5) Regional Assistant (RA) Responsibilities
Election
After the SC election and appointment of ASC, the sitting SC will open nominations for the RA positions for a period of two weeks. The election shall occur no later than 2 months after the SC election, in time for the RAs to begin their term on October 1. The SC and ASC will be responsible for having the vote counted.
Responsibilities
- Personal Relationship: To stay in touch with the County Coordinators (CCs) in the Region on a regular basis and to form relationships with the Coordinators that are conducive to trust and sharing.
- Guidance: To serve as an adviser or source for a second viewpoint when a CC has concerns or problems.
- Teaching: To assist/advise new CCs in the “how-to’s” of a USGenWeb County page.
- Support: To support the CC in the rare case of criticism or complaints.
- Regional Ideas: To learn about the Region and provide the CCs with ideas. To be aware of what is going on in the counties in the Region and to promote sharing of ideas. To promote a “team feeling” in the Region where CCs pitch in to help answer questions.
- Helping Researchers: To take an interest in the Region and participate on its County Lists, pointing researchers towards online and offline sources and suggesting research ideas.
- Checking Sites: To assist the CCs in the Region in complying with USGenWeb and GAGenWeb guidelines. To remind CCs to reload their “front page” when changes and additions are made, and routinely on an occasional basis.
- Appreciation: To make sure the CCs within the region know their contributions are appreciated and that they are valued as individuals.
- Decision Making: To encourage CC’s to actively participate in all matters pertaining to the GAGenWeb and the USGenWeb projects.
6) Site Requirements
- National logo, linked to USGenWeb main page (*logo required by national)
- State logo, linked to The GAGenWeb Project main page (*link required by national)
- Basic resources info (*required by national)
- Updated and links checked quarterly
- Individual links to neighboring counties
- Link to county mailing list
- Link to county archives
- Brief history of the county
- Link to The GAGenWeb Project County Table
The following would be suggested, but not required.
- Surname registry
- Connect to “About GenWeb”
- What’s new/Recent updates
- Search engine