WorldVitalRecords

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 01 Jan 2010 04:25

I've been looking through the WorldVitalRecords website, and while it seems like they have some neat collections, I've read complaints elsewhere about their interface.

I'd like some opinions on how good/useful WVR is. What are the good points/bad points? Is it worth the cost?

Thanks for your answers!

ID:4255

jmurphy · Post by **jmurphy** » 01 Jan 2010 05:38

My main complaint is the same I have about most websites -- it is not always easy to evaluate whether the collections on hand will be of any use to you.

I recommend subscribing to their e-newsletter, which will alert you to what collections are being added. Most collections are free for the first 10 days, so that gives you a chance to see if the collections will actually yield anything.

Now, to give you an idea of what the search is like -- here are the fields in the advanced search form:

Given Name:
Family Name:
Lived in: (i.e. place)
Year: (drop down with choice of +/- 0 2 5 10 years)
Matching Type (for surname): choice of Exact / Soundex / Double Metaphone
Narrow To: (All Locations / US Only Databases / non-US Databases / various locations)

Underneath the form there are links offering 'More Ways to Search & Browse':
Search by Database Title
Recently Added Databases
Browse by Place
View all Databases
Browse by Popular Collection

Genealogy is rather like book collecting in that when you are first starting out, you don't have anything in your library, so any bookstore seems wonderful, and if your budget allows, you go out of the store with big heaping bags of stuff. But as you go on, you scan the shelves and see the books you own more than the books you want to buy.

WVR has been adding a tremendous amount of content lately, but not much of it has been material that I needed. I had a US subscription and an upgrade to the International sub that were of two different periods, with the US sub being longer than the International one. When the International one was up for renewal, I let it go because I wasn't getting any value from it. For instance, they have some UK Census data via an arrangement with Find My Past, and I had already collected all the census records for the families I was researching.

Obviously whether it is worthwhile or not will differ for everyone, since we all have different needs.

My advice would be, since there are databases you can look at for free, go to the site and search those, and see for yourself what you think of the interface.

I personally like the way that the Family Search Pilot and Footnote do things best, but I've heard other people say that they hate those interfaces.

I'd love to have a general discussion about what makes a good or a bad interface, but if anyone wants to talk about it, let's start a new thread so we won't hijack this one.

Jan

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 01 Jan 2010 05:48

Lots of good information here - thank you, Jan.

I subscribed to their newsletter earlier today thanks to your tip in another thread, and I'll take a deeper look at the site, based on your comments. I already have an Ancestry subscription, but if WVR has records they do not, then it'd be worth it.

The search functions at WVR look good from what you've explained. The one at Ancestry... well, it works if you know how to work it, but they really need to write a manual on HOW to use it properly.

I'm at the point in my research where I'm focusing on the US stuff, since the overseas-originating ancestors are much further up the line, in most cases.

Thank you again for your helpful comments, Jan.

ireneblackburn · Post by **ireneblackburn** » 01 Jan 2010 08:58

I made use of the free access over Christmas and I have to say I was not impressed. I found it very frustrating.

Irene

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 01 Jan 2010 09:01

How so? What frustrated you?

jmurphy · Post by **jmurphy** » 01 Jan 2010 16:26

I haven't taken the site tour, so if you have the time to do so, you might try that.

If I recall correctly, the ability to search for a year +/- a range was not in place when the site started out, which made searching by date not very useful.

One annoyance with all these sites -- overlap of collections.

It can be good if the indexes are different at each site, because then you have a backup if your main site's index is funky. But if everyone shares the same index, you get no extra value unless one site's search engine is better than the next.

At any rate, my main gripe with WVR is that the guy who started it is an ex-Ancestry person, and a lot of the deficiencies of WVR are the same as the ones you might find on Ancestry. I have no beef with people breaking out and wanting to do something different, but if you do that, why not do something different?

At any rate, Randy, don't let us prejudice you too much. I'd say, take the tour, go use the site, and come back and tell us what YOU think. I haven't used the site extensively in quite some time, so I'd value a fresh opinion on it before I decide whether to renew my subscription. [wink]

Jan

jmurphy · Post by **jmurphy** » 01 Jan 2010 16:47

P.S. Here's an idea for you, to see how much you like World Vital Records.

If they add a database which you can search for free, and you have access to that database elsewhere, run searches on both sites and see how the search results match up.

It is interesting to compare how the data is presented from the SSDI on the various sites across the web, for instance.

I have a lot of Genealogy how-to books which I collected when I was first starting out. I especially like Marsha Hoffman Rising's The Family Tree Problem Solver: Proven Methods for Scaling the Inevitable Brick Wall from the people who publish Family Tree Magazine [US].

http://www.shopfamilytree.com/product/f ... em-solver/. (It's on sale right now for $10 at their shop -- a nice deal!)

If you have a magazine or book around where the author discusses searching for a family, run a search for their people -- you may have a different perspective when you aren't looking for your own family, and it may be easier to evaluate the quality of the presentation of the search results.

Jan

jmurphy · Post by **jmurphy** » 01 Jan 2010 16:50

Quoted myself when I meant to edit. [oops]

RandyP · Post by **RandyP** » 01 Jan 2010 20:44

Jan, I'll do just that! You've given me a lot to think about, and I see they offer a free 7-day trial. I'll give that a go.

Thanks for the tip on the book - it does look quite good, and it might help with some of the problems I've run into.

Thanks, as always, for your kind help, Jan!

Randy

jmurphy · Post by **jmurphy** » 02 Jan 2010 01:38

You're welcome, Randy. Let us know what you think.

Jan

goodwin2 · Post by **goodwin2** » 02 Feb 2010 02:25

Just my 2 cents on World Vital Records. I tried it initially and found their search feature useless. I kept getting email re great offers, etc. so I took a subscription - reasonable at $20 or so.

Even using all the parameters of their search engine, I rarely get anything of use. Even if I do, often it directs me to another website where I can purchase a book with the information it it. They have NO images of the US census - I'm sure ancestry sees to that. The data they give on a census year search is pathetic so that's little help.

The only area of any use that I can see is the search all databases and see what books, etc. come up. That is fairly extensive but - at a quick glance - my guess is that most of them are on ancestry. Just checked that out again and after limiting to US databases only and history in the title, I got six listings. Took off the US only and got a whole long list with history in the title. NOT great.

That's just one persons opinion - will be interested to see if others have a LOT better luck than I do.[confused]

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