This might be a good place to ask my question. Our library Friends group was approached, through an intermediary, about paying for a subscription to Ancestry for the library. The cost was estimated to begin at $5k+/year, with no rate locks. For this "bargain" price, alas, one did not get access to military records or newspaper clippings, nor could one save their search, only print it out. All efforts to communicate with Ancestry directly for more details/options were fruitless. We felt this was a total rip-off and tabled it indefinitely. Does anyone have any experience in this area? We're willing to spend the money, but only if the value to the community is there.
My library has an annual subscription to Ancestry, I believe it is thru ProQuest.
Patrons can access Ancestry for free as long as they use our IP address, either on one of the library's public computers on on their own device via the library's WiFi. You can "save" documents, they are sent to your email, and you can print them from there. I believe I have shared "saved" documents with other family members by forwarding the email.
The charge is based on the library's service population, more for bigger library populations, less for smaller. Ours was in the couple thousand dollars range, IIRC. Sometimes a library system will subscribe for all member libraries. I believe our state also has provided a state-only subset of access.
I've used a website called something like "Fulton Post Cards" that has newspaper clippings submitted by users. If your local paper was digitized and submitted, it can yield hits, but very spotty coverage. It's been a while since I've tried that site, so I'm fuzzy on the name. I remember it looked pretty retro, hope it's still functional.