Solano County Genealogical Society

SolanoCGS has committees that keep the society going!

Membership, Education, Programs, Library, Technology/Website, Fundraising, and Outreach/Publicity Committees are working all year to carry out the goals of the Solano County Genealogical Society. We value your special skills and encourage you to share them with our members.

A Nominating Committee forms each year to ensure that the Board Member and Officer positions are filled with dedicated member nominees willing to serve.

The Membership Committee maintains a rooster of members and collects dues each year.

Our Education Committee arranges our monthly Discussion Group meetings. Each December our Discussion Group meeting is open to all SCGS members who wish to help select the topics for the next year. At that December meeting individuals or teams of two or three choose to work on a topic. For their discussion group meeting, a short PowerPoint presentation can be prepared and often a handout is available for the session. The meetings are discussions and all attendees are encouraged to share information, to ask questions, and to make suggestions. Some discussion group meetings are roundtables, and one individual is the moderator. See the list of 2023 topics on our website and on our Facebook page notice of upcoming events. The Discussion Group Meetings are open to both members and non-members. At present these meetings are on Zoom.

Through the Education Committee arrangements can be made for a mentoring session. Please contact the society by email. Help is available to get you started or to assist with a problem encountered in your research. A one-hour session can be arranged on Zoom, at our library, or on the phone as a member benefit.

The Discussion Groups offered on ZOOM are on topics selected by the membership at the December meeting for the following year. Volunteers from the Education Committee coordinate these meetings.

Alerts are sent to Members of SCGS through email. A coordinator manages the meeting and introduces the presenter and announces the next month’s topic.

The Program Committee has the fun of choosing the nine speakers needed each year for our monthly Speaker Series. Committee members research and discuss potential topics of interest, determine which potential speakers to contact, and decide which committee member will be in charge of each speaker. Through at least 2023, all Speaker Series presentations are on Zoom, so committee members can consider potential speakers from anywhere.

The committee member assigned to a particular speaker contacts the speaker to negotiate the presentation date, fees, and any other conditions. He/She is also responsible for obtaining biographical and program-specific information from each speaker, and uses this information to prepare brief articles and press releases for local publications, newspapers, other genealogical societies, our newsletter, and our website. We also contact the speakers with periodic reminders, coordinate to obtain their handouts, and introduce the speaker at the meeting.

Useful skills are writing ability, ease in talking to people, and relative comfort in brief public speaking.

If you’re intrigued by the idea of being directly involved in choosing speakers and their topics, join the Program Committee. We’d love a couple of new members.

Our Library Committee is responsible for decisions relating to the running of the library. These tasks include evaluating donated books, purchasing books within the budget, cataloging and processing books, reviewing the collection for out-of-date or inaccurate material, indexing materials as needed, supervising library volunteers (who may or may not be on the committee), keeping the library, microfilm room and society office organized and tidy, staying aware of issues relating to our computers and copy machine and overseeing the research arm of the society.

Committee members are usually also volunteers in the library and help make policy decisions about how the library is run.

Library Volunteers are a group of people are asked to commit to a 3 hour time slot once a month on one of the days we are open. During this time the volunteers main job is to help any visitor to the library find materials for their genealogical research. Often this also calls for basic genealogy help for the visitor.

Volunteers are trained, especially in becoming familiar with the materials we offer. They might need to answer the phone, look up a title or subject in the digital catalog, shelve books or help with a short-term project. If nothing else is happening, the volunteers are free to do their own research until a visitor arrives. Volunteers may also want to create a specific project which will be considered by the library committee before being approved.

If you like being surrounded by books and genealogical materials and helping people, this is the place for you!

Our Technology/Website Committee advises the board on all technology issues. Committee members actively maintain and keep the website content up-to-date. They also make sure our library desktop computers and printers are running smoothly.

The Outreach/Publicity Committee includes our SCGS website, our Facebook Page, and our Rootdigger newsletter. In addition, distribution of press releases for SCGS events as well as contact and speaking at other organizations is carried out. Artwork and posters promoting our events are provided to Ulatis Library and emailed to all members. Additionally, the committee also provides graphic design and artwork for the society to use.

If you are interested in helping, please send an email with your contact information and area of interest to scgs@scgsca.org and we will get back to you with more information.