The organizers of RootsTech 2012 caused quite a bit of drama when they decided to ban book vendors from their exhibition space. Many genealogy bloggers have spoken out against that decision. Since then, RootsTech choose to revise its original decision, and allow at least some book vendors at RootsTech 2012.
There are many genealogists who have taken the time to write a book about the things that they have learned in their years of research. These books could be about how to get the most out of a search through a particular archive, where to go to find records from countries outside of the United States, or even a step-by-step guide that talks beginning genealogists through how to start their family tree.
Obviously, genealogy is a hobby that is still makes use of books, (both new and old), as reliable sources of information. Genealogy has its focus on the past, and there are plenty of records and resources that have never been digitized. Books are very important to this field of study.
This is probably why people were surprised when RootsTech made the decision to exclude book vendors from applying for exhibition space. What happened next is that genealogists who published books were sent letters that informed them that they were not welcome at RootsTech 2012.
The Family Roots Publishing Company received a letter from the RootsTech Exhibit Hall Coordinator that read, (in part):
“RootsTech exhibit hall is for technically related products and services. We are purposefully not accepting applications from genealogical studies, book publishers, book resellers, or arts and crafts dealers.”
Naturally, this lead several genealogy bloggers to post their opinions about this controversial decision. Some of them just so happened to be among the group that was designated by RootsTech as the official bloggers of RootsTech 2012.
This included James Tanner, whose blog is called Genealogy’s Star, and Jill Ball, whose blog is called Geniaus Outrage about RootsTech’s decision to “ban” book venders from their exhibition hall spread across the internet.
Pat Richley-Erickson, who writes the DearMYRTLE blog, is another official blogger of RootsTech 2012. She, too, has posted a blog about her opinion of RootsTech’s decisions.
It was through her blog that I discovered that all the blogging about this topic caused RootsTech to change their mind. She recently posted what RootsTech said on their Facebook page. In part, this read:
“It has become clear that there is indeed demand from the community to have book vendors at RootsTech, and we are pleased to extend book vendors an invitation to exhibit at the conference”.
Image by Valerie’s Genealogy Photos on Flickr