There are a few basic requirements that every county page must meet in order to be associated with our project and be included on the VAGenWeb County Index Page. The requirements are:

State Mail List

If you have not already done so, you need to join the mail list for your state of interest. This is where we discuss all matters having to do with the project. Contact the VAGenWeb state coordinator to be placed on this list.

Every page must provide a query page. Queries must be posted in a timely manner.

County Resource Page and Lookups

Every page must provide some basic research help for their county. For instance, many of the county coordinators have provided a list of names, addresses and phone numbers for the county court clerk, library, and genealogical and/or historical societies. Many have also provided a bibliography page showing the reference books available for their county. Lookups should be offered if you or your volunteers have received permission to do so from the books author or publisher.

The official USGenWeb policy concerning lookups and the copyright law can be found here

Logos on your page

The USGenWeb logo must be prominently displayed on your page. This will identify your page as part of this project and its high standards for Internet genealogy and the belief in free information on the web. In addition, there are several VAGenWeb logos to choose from, and you must display one on your page.

Pointer To State Page

Every page must have a pointer to their State County Selection List maintained by the state coordinator.

Recommended Links

Although the following are not mandatory if they have been placed on the State Pages, it is recommended that they also appear on your page for the convenience of those visiting your page.

Gene Stark's Index of Names for all USGenWeb Sites -- (Includes all xxx County lines.) where xxx is the name of your county
The URL is http://www.gendex.com/gendex

A link to the USGenWeb page is also recommended.
The URL is http://www.usgenweb.org/

A link to the WorldGenWeb page is not mandatory, but feel free to add it if you so desire.
The URL is WorldGenWeb

A link to the USGenWeb Free Archives is required. The States Table of Contents Page is located at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb. From the main page, follow the links to your state and county.

As new county pages are put up on the web, they will be checked for the required elements and to be sure your links work. If there are any problems with links or any required elements missing, you will be notified so you may make any changes or corrections. Post a message to your state mail list or state coordinator when you are ready for your page to be checked.

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 "bare essentials", your page is yours to do with as you please. Should there be any changes made in the basic requirements, you will be notified by your state coordinator and this message will be updated.

We welcome you to the USGenWeb project. If you need assistance with getting your page up, don't hesitate to ask someone associated with your state project, or post a request to your state's list.

The USGenWeb Project Volunteer Information.