State Page Guidelines/Standards

State Mailing List

Each state is required to maintain a mail list to which all county coordinators are subscribed. This is where all matters related to the project will be disseminated. As list owner for the state mail list, the state coordinator will forward items of interest to county coordinators. State coordinators should periodically check to make sure all county coordinators are subbed to the state mail list.

State Coordinators Mail List

All state coordinators are required to join the State Coordinators mail list. Send an email to the National Coordinator to be added to the mail list.

The USGenWeb Project logo

The USGenWeb Project logo should be prominently displayed on the state page. A state logo is optional.

Periodic monitoring of county pages

State coordinators should periodically check to make sure that all the county pages are adhering to the few USGenWeb Project requirements (logo, queries, etc.) and that they are updated within a reasonable amount of time - up-to-date queries, etc. This could be done by a committee of county coordinators appointed (or volunteers) for the purpose.

Public/county coordinator inquiries

It is expected that all state coordinators respond to public and/or county coordinator inquiries within a reasonable time. Follow up on any complaints from the public regarding unresponsive county coordinators.

Required links

The following links are required for all state pages:

• Counties within the state
• The USGenWeb Project - http://www.usgenweb.org
• The USGenWeb Archives Project - http://usgwarchives.org
• A link to The USGenWeb Project's Guidelines/Standards for county websites, including a link to the Official Project Name/Logo page.
• The USGenWeb Project Copyright Information page.
• The WorldGenWeb Project - http://worldgenweb.org/

Recruit/startup help for county coordinators

Include information on adopting available counties and help new coordinators get their pages started. A committee of experienced county coordinators could be formed for the purpose of aiding new coordinators. Alternatively or in addition, a "help" page addressing the most frequent problems encountered by new coordinators could be considered.

Recommended (Optional) Items

• Recruit someone to coordinate archives submissions for the state
• County boundary maps since the state was first settled showing change
• Lookups
• A place for visitors to post surnames for unknown counties
• A page for visitors to post queries for unknown counties
• As much information as possible regarding the state's research resources with links
• A listing of state and county genealogical societies, with links as appropriate
• Establish or encourage state projects such as state history, Civil War regiment transcription, etc.
• A bibliography related to research in the state
• Family reunion announcements

The USGenWeb Project policy on HTML code, graphics, etc.

It is the policy of The USGenWeb Project to obtain permission from the creator of the code, graphics, and backgrounds before using them on our pages unless they have been placed in the public domain. If you find yourself having used someone's code without their permission, please either obtain that permission or remove that feature from your pages. This includes pages of links that others have put together.

Welcome to the Project

Beyond these few requirements, your page is yours to do with as you please. Should there be any changes made in the basic guidelines/standards, you will be notified by the national coordinator and this website will also be updated. We welcome you to The USGenWeb Project. If you need assistance with getting your pages uploaded, check out the Upload Help page. Please don't hesitate to ask someone associated with the project or post a query on the RootsWeb Help mail list, if you have problems not addressed by the Upload Help page.

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