John,
Don't feel bad. I hope this makes you feel beter. I did various US GEN WEB
sites look ups for over three years and very few people even thanked me for the
time. I was very thorough and spent many hours on typing the details and extra
information for each look-up. Never again. I went back my LDS Family History
Center Patron Librarian Volunteer work. I help patrons who come into the center
to learn how to order the films they need and only inside the center. LDS only
charges the postage on the films from Salt Lake City to the library where the
patron placed the order. People need to learn how to look up their own families
anyhow. Experience is th BEST teacher. LDS Films are not expensive from the FHC
center and they can often find other family names living near and married in
the same area as the ones they are searching for etc.
I very seldom do look-ups at home anymore, unless they are VERY clearly
stated.. I answer e-mail questions at home when asked personally and only when
I am told WHO, WHAT, Aprox.WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW. I do Not answer duhhh
questions such as give me all your names and information on WHITE or a certain
surname. Volunteers need time to do their own work also.
another very rushed Volunteer,
Beverly
John Ballard wrote:
I had a few requests for lookups in response to my recent offer to
search
some microfilm resources that I had available for a few weeks, and everyone
to whom I sent information responded with thanks. Unfortunately, that's
not always the case, as is evident from a message received from one of the
volunteers listed on the Decatur GenWeb lookup page:
"I am going to have to ask you to remove my name from the lookups list. It
has become a little too much for me, for I now have no time to do research
on my own families, and it has taken me a long time to catch up on
requests. I didn't mind doing them, but for the last batch I sent out, to
over 14 different people, only 2 took the time to write back and thank me
for looking up info for them. On some I spent over 2 hours looking up
stuff. I really hate to do this, but if they can't take time to thank me,
I dont need the hassle."
Before I had time to remove the name from the lookups page, the volunteer
had slept on the issue and reconsidered. But the incident reinforces for
me the need to give appropriate recognition to those who offer lookup
services.
John