Monday, November 7, 2016

Monday Mailbox: Layton,

The Ancestry Insider's Monday MailboxDear Readers,

I received several replies to my inquiry about the size of the Layton FamilySearch Center’s microfilm collection. Here are some:

Dear Ancestry Insider,

On the new center's "Resources" page they say “This is a computer-only center and does not order microfilm,” and “There are no printed materials or books available in this facility.”

Geolover

Dear Ancestry Insider,

I toured the new center today. They have NO physical books. They say that is why it is not called a Library. All digital.

Thank your for sharing so much with us.

Janice Nusbaum

Dear Readers,

Wow. I don’t know how much to read into this. Patrons at the Layton center, 23 miles north of the Salt Lake Family History Library, will have to drive down to see film while patrons at the Riverton center, 23 miles south of the library, have their own film collection. I guess it makes sense that as more and more of the Family History Library’s book and microfilm collections go online, the less need there is for physical books and films. FamilySearch recently said publicly that they have 299,822 books in their digital collection. I don’t know that they’ve ever said how many films they have digitized. Certainly it is more than the 23,000 rolls at the Riverton center. Someone should ask them. But since they’ve said they will never put all the films online, you’d think they would still have a film reader or two. Wow.

Signed,
The Ancestry Insider

5 comments:

  1. Books and microfilm are much easier to use than their digitized counterparts.

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  2. I went on the tour on Saturday, and they pointed out that the Ogden FHC will still be available for microfilm orders and viewing. For most near Layton, Ogden is closer than Salt Lake City. But it is interesting to see the transition in thinking between the time that Riverton opened and now.

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  3. They've (FamilySearch?) said they will never put all the films online?? Is that because of contract restrictions or some other reason?

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  4. I am a FHC Director and was told not too long ago that there will be no film use within 3 or 4 years. I was told this because I was inquiring about returning films that were viewable online.

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  5. I am a FHC Director and was told not too long ago that there will be no film use within 3 or 4 years. I was told this because I was inquiring about returning films that were viewable online.

    ReplyDelete

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