The following is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman.  

NOTE: This article contains personal opinions.

In case you have not heard the news, many genealogy libraries are struggling financially these days. For this article, I will focus solely on the larger societies that have their own buildings or perhaps rent a significant amount of space in other buildings. I will also look only at societies that have libraries that are not funded by taxpayer dollars. Many of them have paid employees, although not all do. 

An example of one such library would include the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The same may be true of the Society of Genealogists’ library in London. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) library in Washington, D.C. also is a huge, non-profit resource, although the sponsoring organization is not limited to genealogy interests. The DAR library does seem to fit in the same business model as the libraries of large genealogy societies. 

You can find hundreds of smaller examples, including the Vesterheim Genealogical Center and Naeseth Libraryin Madison, Wisconsin; the Hagen History Center (formerly known as the Erie County Historical Society’s Library) in Erie, Pennsylvania; and the American French Genealogical Society in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and many more. The Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, Connecticut, may also fit into this category although it is not a part of any society. It is an independent genealogy library, but with business and financial realities similar to the libraries sponsored by societies. 

Each of these libraries holds thousands of books of value to genealogists. Yet I believe that each of these libraries is in danger of extinction. Like so many species of creatures that saw their source of sustenance dwindling, some will evolve and others will disappear.

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in New York City sold its headquarters building, including an extensive genealogy library. The National Genealogical Society also closed its library and gave away the 17,000+ books in its collection to a much larger organization many miles away in 2001, then sold its headquarters building. Will other genealogy libraries face the same fate in the next decade or two?

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) remains alive and vibrant with a well-organized and growing library in Boston. Indeed, NEHGS is well funded, and the future of the society and its library seems assured for many more years. Even so, NEHGS did shut down its lending library a few years ago because of financial losses. Revenue derived from lending books did not cover more than a fraction of the expenses of staffing and running the lending library. Members can no longer borrow books by mail directly from NEHGS. 

NOTE #2: I am a former employee of the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and loved the time I spent there. I managed to sneak into the Society’s vast library at every opportunity I could find. I also used this library many times as a member for twenty years or so before I became an employee. 

NOTE #3: I will ignore the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. While not supported by taxpayer dollars, this library is supported by a religious organization with financial reserves that are not typical of other genealogy libraries.

I must also say that I love using old books. It is a thrill to open a leather-bound book printed 100 years ago. The smell and the texture of the book gratify the soul and the senses. I also find it fascinating to read the information that came from the mind of an expert many years ago and was then set in print on old-fashioned printing presses. I can imagine the printer bending over the type case with tweezers in hand, selecting each and every individual letter of that book, one at a time. That was done so that I and other future genealogists could benefit from the knowledge of that time. As much as I love technology, there is an appeal to holding old books in the hand that I never enjoy when I read the same information on a computer screen.

I also enjoy walking up and down the stacks of any genealogy library. However, I believe the days are numbered when we will be able to do so. 

Running a library of any sort requires money. In many cases, it requires a lot of money. Property values and other expenses in New York City, Boston, or in the NGS’ former library location of Alexandria, Virginia, can be astronomical. In some cases, salaries of the employees, along with their medical plans, 401K retirement plans, and other associated labor costs, can be the highest expense of all. These expenses can be critical in a non-profit organization that is funded by membership dues and by financial gifts and fund-raising.

Anyone in business can tell you that such expenses never decline and, in fact, rarely remain level. Labor expenses, building expenses, insurance, and even postage costs keep escalating. The amount budgeted a decade ago for library operation and maintenance won’t begin to pay today’s bills. These libraries need hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and those expenses increase year after year. 

The expenses over a ten-year or fifty-year period are staggering. One genealogy library I know spends more than one million dollars per year to keep the library in operation. That number increases 5% to 10% a year. Even at a modest 5% annual increase, the society will need to spend more than $12 million in the next ten years simply to maintain status quo. If we use assume a 10% annual increase in budget, the total required will be close to $16 million over ten years. Of course, projecting further into the future yields astronomical figures. 

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