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50-467: The Salt Lake City Genealogical Library was founded in 1894 to gather genealogical records and assist members of the LDS Church with their family history and genealogical research. It is the largest library of its kind in the world. It is open to the general public at no charge. The FSL is visited by an estimated 1,900 or more individual patrons each day. By 1975, there were 17 "branch libraries" around

100-662: A Welsh library originally sponsored in 1951 by the National Gymanfa Association of the United States and Canada . The Icelandic Library Association of Spanish Fork donated their collection of Icelandic books in 1951. Starting in 2004, R-rated movies were placed in the Faculty Use collection. The Romance section includes a guide with ratings for the amount of sexual content in the books, and novels with explicit sexual material are not included in

150-741: A branch genealogical library, was organized in the Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) at Brigham Young University (BYU) in May 1964. Plans to organize FSCs in Mesa, Arizona , Logan, Utah , Cardston, Alberta , and Oakland, California , each adjacent to a temples in one of those cities, had been announced at the church's October 1963 general conference . The FSCs were put under the overall direction of Archibald F. Bennett . By December 1964, there were 29 FSCs, and by 1968, there were 75. In 1987, these institutions were renamed "Family History Centers." On January 10, 2023,

200-677: A consultation with the Director of Libraries, S. Lyman Tyler. In his time as director from 1954 to 1966, Tyler met Keyes Metcalf at a seminar for library administrators. Metcalf was the former director of the Harvard Library , and consulted with Tyler about the plans for BYU's new library. BYU commissioned Lorenzo Snow Young to make the plans for addition. The J. Reuben Clark Library was completed in 1961. The library's collection reached 500,000 volumes in 1965, and one million volumes by 1971. The name of library changed in 1974 from

250-488: A digitization center. After the expansion, parts of the old library were remodeled, and the south entrance was closed. A new south entrance was opened in 2015. From 2001 to 2011, the Interlibrary Loan program processed 500,000 requests. The library contained over 4.7 million books and served an average of 10,191 patrons a day during 2016. Single-user study rooms were added in 2017, and construction started on

300-570: A dry, environment-controlled facility built into Granite Mountain in Little Cottonwood Canyon , near Salt Lake City , Utah . The storage facility is known as the Granite Mountain Records Vault. The vault stores over 2.4 million rolls of microfilm and 1 million microfiches. FamilySearch operates over 6,300 FamilySearch Centers in 140 countries around the world as of 2023. The centers are branches of

350-584: A family-friendly study room. The HBLL started offering a dial-up access system in 1969 for patrons to access music, lectures, and foreign language recordings, and access to the Library Information Network Center (LINC) was offered in 1974. Through a keyword search, patrons could use the system to search bibliographic resources of articles and recent books from ProQuest Dialog and Orbit II. The library adopted 3M Tattle-Tape in 1975 to detect if patrons were removing books from

400-714: A number of databases. While access to the records is always free, some records have restricted access, and can only be viewed at a FamilySearch Center, an Affiliate Library or by LDS members. FamilySearch.org also contains the catalog of the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The library holds genealogical records for over 110 countries, territories, and possessions, including over 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records; 742,000 microfiche ; 490,000 books, serials, and other formats; and 4,500 periodicals. FamilySearch FamilyTree (FSFT)

450-471: A portion of them had internet access in 1997. The library launched an online library catalog in 1998 after integrating the search system, providing online renewals and extending undergraduate checkout times. An electronic reserve system with an additional server was added in 1999. The library added wireless internet access points to its study spaces in 2003. The HBLL instituted a summer program to certify students as school librarians in 1938, later offering

500-592: Is a "one world tree," or a unified database that aims to contain one entry for each person recorded in genealogical records. All FamilySearch users are able to add persons, link them to existing persons or merge duplicates. Sources, images, and audio files can also be attached to persons in the tree. There are also several features specific to the membership of the LDS Church, facilitating temple ordinance work. In keeping with an agreement with Jewish groups and to prevent abuse, performing LDS ordinances for Holocaust victims or celebrities results in account suspension until

550-738: Is part of the HBLL at BYU in Provo, Utah. The BYU FHL was one of the original planned FSCs and is the largest FHC outside of Salt Lake City. It was formerly known as the Utah Valley Regional Family History Center. It is now semi-independent of the LDS Church's FSC system. In June 2010, the LDS Church closed down many smaller FSCs in the Salt Lake Valley and opened the Riverton FSL, a misnomer, since

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600-736: Is the world's largest family history and technology conference in the world. It is the successor to three former conferences: the Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy, the Family History Technology Workshop and the FamilySearch Developers Conference. The main service of the FamilySearch website is to offer access to digital images and indexes of genealogical records. These images can be searched along with

650-491: The FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah . The Family Tree section allows user-generated content to be contributed to the genealogical database. As of March 2023 , there are over 1.5 billion individuals in the tree and the historical records database contains over 5.7 billion digital images, including digitized books, digitized microfilm, and other digital records. GSU, the predecessor of FamilySearch,

700-602: The L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library . In 2016, the library contained over 4.7 million books, 10.6 million total materials, and served over 10,000 patrons each day. A collection of books in Karl G. Maeser 's office served as the first library at Brigham Young Academy . In 1891, the library moved to a room in the Education Building in the lower campus, which expanded to include Room D about 1906. George Q. Cannon and Reed Smoot helped to acquire documents from

750-477: The U.S. Department of the Interior and congressional documents. A fire in 1884 destroyed at least forty volumes of the collection. Students rarely checked out books in the early 1900s, generally studying books in the library instead. The Dewey Decimal Classification system was introduced to the library in 1908. English professor Alice Louise Reynolds helped raise funds to purchase over 1,000 books for

800-727: The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine from 1910 to 1940. The GSU began microfilming records of genealogical importance in 1938. In 1963, the microfilm collection was moved to the newly completed Granite Mountain Records Vault for long-term preservation. In 1975, the GSU became the LDS Church's Genealogical Department, which later became the FHD. At that time, its head officer was renamed president from executive director, starting during Theodore M. Burton 's term. However,

850-625: The Family History Department was separated from the Church History Department , becoming its own department. In 2008, the Vatican issued a statement calling the practice known as baptism for the dead "erroneous" and directing Catholic dioceses to keep parish records from Latter-day Saints performing genealogical research . In 1998, the GSU began digital imaging of records and in about August 1998

900-606: The FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City , Utah . The library was built in 1985 as a successor to previous libraries run by the Genealogical Society of Utah. The library is open to the public and has a large collection of international genealogical materials, including microfilm, books, and digital materials. The library's catalog and many of their digital materials are located at the FamilySearch website. FamilySearch stores copies of their records in

950-502: The Grant Library, reference books were placed on shelves surrounding the study area, with the rest of the library's holdings on shelves in the book room. Students would find books they wanted in the catalog, and library pages would retrieve them. The library increased the volume of acquisitions during the 1930s and 1940s, and gifts of books were indiscriminately accepted. This policy changed in 1958, when gifts became subject to

1000-687: The International Genealogical Index contains an additional 125 million names. These names have been patron-submitted or extracted from thousands of original birth, christening, and marriage records. The Pedigree Resource File database contains more than 80 million names that are linked into families. Records from the United States, Canada, the British Isles, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa, are available. The Social Security Death Index represents millions who were in

1050-541: The J. Reuben Clark Library to the Harold B. Lee Library to avoid confusion with the J. Reuben Clark Law School . Harold B. Lee was the 11th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . A six-story addition was completed in 1976, doubling the library's physical space and increasing the library's seating capacity from 2,500 to 4,500. The addition had moveable walls, integrated student study spaces into

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1100-540: The LDS Church announced that Family History Centers would be known as FamilySearch Centers. FSCs vary greatly in size, hours staffed, and resources available. Because of changing demographics, many smaller FSCs are closing with their resources being directed into "Library Class" facilities similar to the Los Angeles FHL, but not like the Riverton FSC that has computers only. The BYU Family History Library

1150-888: The LDS Church receiving free subscriptions with these companies. They also have a standing relationship with BillionGraves, in which the photographed and indexed images of graves are both searchable on FamilySearch and are linked to individuals in the family tree. At the end of 2015, FamilyTree had 1.1 billion persons added by 2.47 million contributors. In August 2017, FamilySearch discontinued distribution of physical microfilm to its family history centers due to large-scale availability of digital images of those films and planned digitization of remaining films. In May 2018, FamilySearch added and digitized its 2 billionth record. In September 2020, FamilySearch announced that it now includes 8 billion names, 3.2 billion digital images, and 490,000 digital books, with over 1 million new records each day. 7 billion names from almost every country were added within

1200-488: The LDS Church. On 16 April 2013 FamilySearch completely revamped the site design generally, with new features and a changed color scheme. Some of the new features include an interactive fan chart and some printing capabilities, as well as the ability to add photos to Family Tree. In February 2014, FamilySearch announced partnerships with Ancestry.com , findmypast and MyHeritage , which includes sharing massive amounts of their databases with those companies, and members of

1250-610: The LDS Church. FamilySearch is currently working with genealogical societies all around the world to index local projects. At the end of 2010, 548 million vital records had been transcribed and made publicly available through the FamilySearch website. In April 2013, FamilySearch Indexing completed their goal to offer 1 billion indexed records online. FamilySearch offers free lessons on FamilySearch.org to help people learn how to find their ancestors. The topics range from basic research to training on specific record types and are designed for both beginners and experienced researchers. Most of

1300-585: The US Social Security system before death. A majority of the records contain information about persons who lived before 1930. Census records from the 1880 United States Federal Census and from the 1881 British & Canadian censuses are available. A Vital Records Index presents thousands of names for Mexico and Scandinavia only. Approximately 200 cameras are currently microfilming records in more than 45 countries. Records have been filmed in more than 110 countries, territories, and possessions. In 2003,

1350-470: The addition of more databases as well as some digitized and indexed microfilms. On 16 November 2012, it was announced that the new Family Tree database would be available to all users of New FamilySearch, and that the New FamilySearch database would eventually be phased out. On 5 March 2013, it was announced that Family Tree would now be available to everyone, whether or not they were members of

1400-834: The administration announced a renewed focus on undergraduate studies. The HBLL includes a family history library , the Primrose International Viola Archive , the International Harp Archives, and serves as a designated depository of government documents. The juvenile literature department opened its Lloyd Alexander Collection in January 2010, featuring items from the author's home office for students and researchers to access. The library's special collections began in 1957 with 1000 books and 50 manuscript collections. A special vault and cold storage facility were built in 2000 and

1450-692: The classes come from research consultants in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, but FamilySearch is also collaborating with partners such as the Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri, to record and post classes. In 2007, it was decided to start a FamilySearch Research Wiki to help FamilySearch users and others researching genealogy and family history to find and share information on data sources and research tips. The first version of

1500-476: The collection increased monthly by an average of 4,100 rolls of film, 700 books, and 16 electronic resources. In the late 1990s, a "pilot program" to update familysearch.org and digitize its entire collection was started using volunteers to input or "index" census and other data. This new genealogical index is considered an upgrade. It is a work in progress representing 426 regions around the world. Millions of new names have been input by volunteers and volunteers for

1550-489: The collection was formally named the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library . The collection at the time contained over 8000 manuscript collections, 500,000 photographs, and 280,000 books. Notable items from the collection include a 1967 Bible illustrated by Salvador Dalí , a 13th-century Vulgate , a first edition Book of Mormon , and the papers of Cecil B. DeMille and Helen Foster Snow . The HBLL houses collections in many foreign languages. The collection includes

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1600-623: The collection. The American Library Association awarded the HBLL with the Library Instruction Round Table 2017 Innovation in Instruction Award. FamilySearch FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and is part of the church's Family History Department (FHD). The Family History Department

1650-416: The decision was made by LDS Church leaders to build a genealogical website. In May 1999, the website first opened to the public as FamilySearch . The beta version, released April 1, almost immediately went offline, overloaded because of high popularity. Only a few days after the official launch, the website had received an estimated 100 million hits. To handle the load, site visitors were only given access to

1700-570: The facility has no books and no magazines, having computers only. Whether this will be a trend for future FSCs is not known. The Riverton FSL in Riverton, Utah has a Family Story Room available for use to record ancestor and family stories with state-of-the-art audio and video technology. The Ancestral File database contains more than 36 million names that are linked into families. The International Genealogical Index database contains approximately 600 million names of deceased individuals. An addendum to

1750-507: The last 10 years. Since 2011, FamilySearch International has organized an annual family history and technology conference called RootsTech . It is held annually in the Salt Palace Convention Center , Salt Lake City, Utah . The conference is attended by professional and amateur genealogists, technology developers, and members of the LDS Church. In 2014 there were nearly 13,000 people in attendance. As of 2020, it

1800-581: The library of Congress system at least since the 1970s. A word processing center in the library made 25 computers available to students at the rate of $ 1 per hour in 1996. In 1997, the library switched from using the DOS-based BYLINE to the Windows -based Horizon Automated Library Systems. The Horizon system allowed users to access online catalogs from other libraries, and used a client-server model . The library contained 200 computers but only

1850-715: The library that had not been checked out. The library renamed their NOTIS cataloging system in 1984 to the Brigham Young University Information Network (BYLINE), and ran it on a mainframe computer located in the James E. Talmage Building. The library horror, and science fiction collections began being re-catalogued in 1995 from the Dewey Decimal Classification system to a modified Library of Congress Classification . The academic collections had been cataloged in

1900-414: The library. She was the faculty chair of a committee to establish the library from 1906 to 1925. The library contained 29,592 volumes by 1923—almost half of them donated—and students had to stand in the library for lack of study space Reynolds' fan club donated over 10,000 volumes in the 1930s. By 1946, the library contained 138,500 volumes of books. The Heber J. Grant Library was completed in 1925. In

1950-416: The president's office in 1876 before moving in 1891. The Heber J. Grant Library building was completed in 1925, and in 1961 the library moved to the newly constructed J. Reuben Clark Library where it stands today. That building was renamed to the Harold B. Lee Library in 1974. The library was significantly expanded in the 1990s, providing new individual and group study rooms and a special vault area for

2000-459: The program during the school year. A class on bookbinding was taught during the 1940s. The BYU School of Library and Information Science was established in 1966 and re-accredited in 1978. It had about 50 graduates a year. Prior to this program, Mary Elizabeth Downey taught a six-week class on the use of libraries. The School of Library and Information Science was closed in 1993, despite the program being in high demand. The closure occurred after

2050-472: The project are being actively solicited at FamilySearchIndexing.org. The searchable database containing the digital images and index will be available through the LDS Church's FamilySearch website. Harold B. Lee Library The Harold B. Lee Library ( HBLL ) is the main academic library of Brigham Young University (BYU) located in Provo, Utah . The library started as a small collection of books in

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2100-516: The researcher proves a legitimate family connection to the subject of their search. FamilySearch allows users to input same-sex marriages or other unions. Searchable indexes of the records on FamilySearch are created by volunteers of the FamilySearch Indexing program. To ensure greater accuracy, each batch of records is indexed by an indexer and is then checked by a more experienced indexer. Indexing volunteers need not be members of

2150-534: The site for 15 minutes at a time. In November 1999, 240 million names were added, bringing the total number of entries to 640 million. In 2009, the LDS Church launched a collaborative tree known as "New FamilySearch". It was the precursor to the current "FamilySearch Family Tree", and was only available to church members. The system was an attempt to combine multiple genealogical submissions to FamilySearch's databases into one single tree, but it did not allow users to edit information that they had not submitted. It also

2200-439: The stacks, added group study rooms, and included a vault for archival materials. Art professor and artist Franz M. Johansen created four cast stone panels used to decorate the south entrance of the library and representing four areas of human knowledge. The HBLL was again expanded and remodeled in the mid– and late–1990s using donated funds, adding 234,000 square feet (21,700 m ), technology classrooms, an auditorium, and

2250-452: The title "President of the Genealogical Society of Utah" and other GSU titles were still used and bestowed upon department officers. In 2000, the Church consolidated its Family History and Historical departments into the Family and Church History Department, and Richard E. Turley Jr. became managing director of the new department and president of the GSU. Later this decision was reversed and

2300-678: The wiki was built on the Plone wiki software product, but it was soon discovered that MediaWiki software was much more suitable, so in January 2008 it was moved to the MediaWiki platform. In the intervening years it was rolled out in other languages, and as of July 2014 it was available in 11 languages. The other language wikis are found via links at the bottom of the wiki homepage. The wiki in English had over 79,500 articles and over 150,000 registered users as of July 2014. FamilySearch operates

2350-554: The world. The library collection has 2.4 million rolls of FSL microfilmed genealogical records and more than 742,000 microfiches in the main system. In 2003, the collection increased monthly by an average of 4,100 rolls of film, 700 books, and 16 electronic resources. A majority of the records contain information about persons who lived before 1930. Approximately 200 cameras are currently microfilming records in more than 45 countries. Records have been filmed in more than 110 countries, territories, and possessions. The first FSC, then called

2400-451: Was difficult to add sources to individuals in the tree or determine what was the correct information among multiple submissions. By April 2011, plans were in place to redesign the database into a more collaborative platform. In 2011, the FamilySearch website received a major redesign. The previous site had allowed users to only search one database at a time, but the new version allowed sitewide searches of multiple databases. It also included

2450-507: Was founded on 1 November 1894. Its purpose was to create a genealogical library to be used both by its members and other people, to share educational information about genealogy , and to gather genealogical records in order to perform religious ordinances for the dead. It was founded under the direction of LDS Church leaders, when the First Presidency appointed Franklin D. Richards as the first president. The society published

2500-722: Was originally established in 1894, as the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU); it is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch maintains a collection of records, resources, and services designed to help people learn more about their family history. Facilitating the performance of Latter-day Saint ordinances for deceased relatives is another major aim of the organization. Although it requires user account registration, it offers free access to its resources and service online at FamilySearch.org. In addition, FamilySearch offers personal assistance at more than 6,400 FamilySearch centers in 140 countries, including

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