Certification Alteration

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) <www.bcgcertification.org>, a group that bestows professional certifications upon genealogists who satisfy a list of requirements, has changed the credentials it offers. Last fall, BCG consolidated three certification categories — Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, Certified Lineage Specialist and Certified Genealogist — into one, Certified Genealogist. (You may see CG after the name of someone who claims this title.)

BCG president Connie Lenzen says all three of the now-defunct designations required the same skills, just in different areas, and the distinctions among the categories weren’t always clear to family historians. “We expect the public can now more easily hire a certified [genealogist] without being concerned about the differences,” Lenzen says. You’ll find names of certified genealogists on BCG’s Web site.

From the April 2006 issue of Family Tree Magazine.