Policy and Guidelines

There are several county sites that are available for adoption. If you would like to join this project, please contact the Country Coordinator and include the name of the country you are interested in adopting.

The ScotlandGenWeb Project maintains very high standards in page creation, site management, and overall quality of presentation for all associated project pages. The ScotlandGenWeb Project encourages freedom of expression, national cultural uniqueness and individual creativity by project hosts in the actual design of their pages. Certain elements are required, however, to help maintain the cohesiveness of the project.

1. The WorldGenWeb Logo and Name must be present on the ScotlandGenWeb homepage and on the county websites as well as all special projects.  Logos may be found at http://www.worldgenweb.org/images/index.html  
2. All ScotlandGenWeb Project sites share the same alpha-neumonic name and all projects must conform to this standard.  The project name is The ScotlandGenWeb Project. County pages follow this same example: Aberdeenshireshire, ScotlandGenWeb Project
3. County websites must contain a link to the ScotlandGenWeb website (http://www.scotlandgenweb.org/) with one of the following  ScotlandGenWeb Logo buttons.

       

4. The ScotlandGenWeb website and the county websites must contain a link to The iukgenweb Project website located at http://www.iukgenweb.org This logo button may be used, but is not required.

   

5. Non-Commercial Status: The ScotlandGenWeb Project is a non-commercial entity. The ScotlandGenWeb Project is dedicated to the concept of free exchange of public-domain records via the internet.  As such we do not charge for the resources available through our pages.  We may link to commercial websites however that does not imply that we endorse their services.
6. Copyright: The ScotlandGenWeb Project encourages the collection and publication of non-copyrighted materials online by hosts. The ScotlandGenWeb Project will not pay royalties to any organization or institution. Therefore, we stipulate that all materials placed online at any project website be free from copyright infringement.
7. The ScotlandGenWeb Project feels strongly that GENUKI has some of the best material online to assist researchers in Scotland. We are working collaboratively with them to provide additional services to researchers that are not currently available through their project setup.   It is not the aim of the ScotlandGenWeb to replicate the resources available from GENUKI.  The ScotlandGenWeb Project functions more as a query resource and family association project rather than as a national resource center.  Volunteers for any country or county website within the iukgenweb should seek to provide those additional services that GENUKI does not provide.   Examples of that include:
   
   • Query Pages
   • Mailing Lists
   • Lookup Resources
   • Family Association Website Links

   County hosts are strongly encouraged to contact and establish a relationship with the corresponding GENUKI county host.  The ScotlandGenWeb Project has worked hard at establishing a strong collaborative relationship with GENUKI and will not permit an individual country/county host jeopardize that relationship.  The ScotlandGenWeb and the County hosts will maintain a promenade link to the corresponding GENUKI website.

8. The ScotlandGenWeb Project endeavors to maintain that all materials collected through associated project websites will not be distributed commercially. Country coordinators and project volunteers work on the honor system and we "assume" that materials placed online are free from any copyright infringement and that they will not be sold or republished in any form.
9. Individual's who submit data to any website are free to include the word "private" in place of any records or dates. This does dilute the value of the record submitted but we wholeheartedly support the privacy rights of the individual.
10. Each coordinator will maintain a method for researchers to post queries. The coordinator may choose to administrate a query page/bulletin board system or they may choose to provide a link to an existing message board related to their region.
    The coordinator is free to choose a system/method which works best for their project web site.
11. County sites will maintain a link to the WorldGenWeb Project Archives.
12. To fulfill the mission of the WorldGenWeb Project of providing quality genealogical data and information it is imperative that each WorldGenWeb Project website be kept current. At a minimum each project shall be updated once every 12 months. This update should include a check for any broken links, a change to the copyright date and a check to ensure that contact information is current. Project websites that have not been updated for a period greater than 12 months may be declared abandoned and the coordinator may be removed from the WorldGenWeb Project in accordance with Section VII and Section VIII of WorldGenWeb policies.

These policies are an adaptation of the policies of the iukgenweb Project located at http://www.iukgenweb.org/policy.html and the polices of the WorldGenWeb Project located a thttp://www.worldgenweb.org/index.php/policies-and-procedures.  These policies are the requirements for a ScotlandGenWeb Project, each coordinator is responsible for reviewing the above websites to ensure they are in compliance with the WorldGenWeb and iukgenweb policies.  These Guidelines and Policies were last updated on 24 October 2014.

Disclaimer: The ScotlandGenWeb Project does not guarantee the authenticity or source of any collected material place online at project websites and is to be held free and indomitable from any and all liabilities based on such materials. The iukgenweb will remove any materials found to be in violation of all U.S. Copy Right Laws and statutes.