by Lisa Cooke | Aug 30, 2017 | 01 What's New, FamilySearch |
I’ve heard from many of you since publishing my interview with Diane Loosle, Director of Patron Services at FamilySearch on the topic of FamilySearch ending its microfilm lending program on August 31, 2017. As fate would have it, just as the interview published, the unexpected happened – microfilm ordering capability ceased. That was when emails like this one started to arrive in my inbox:
Last Monday there was a computer software upgrade (or downgrade as I call it) in the FamilySearch catalog system which now prevents ordering of a mass number of microfilms ahead of the deadline this week…I am not confused about what is going on. I volunteer at an FHC and to date we have ordered some 600 films to complete our collection (these records will never be digitized.) We have ordered all the vital records we can. We have more than 9000 films at our little FHC, but now we want to order the Naturalization records and the system says “Film #—- does not exist.” This is happening on a global scale and even with films we already own. German, Lithuanian, Swedish, Chicago, Sacramento, Dallas, you name the city, this error message is showing up…Since you had a conversation with Diane recently, is there a way you can share this with her and find out how we can address this stumbling block. This is now a week old…
Many of you asked me to reach out to Diane, which I did. And thanks to your involvement, I received the following from Diane this morning:
Diane Loosle, Director of Patron Services at FamilySearch
“There was an update to the software that had unintended consequences in that it broke the online film ordering systems connection to the FamilySearch Catalog. People were unable to order the films they desired for a little less than one week. This timing of course was very unfortunate. The situation has been remedied in the software so orders have resumed and because of this issue, the decision has been made to extend the film ordering deadline by one week to September 7th to make up for the week that the software was down. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused people and are anxious to ensure that they are able to order the films they desire. We now need everyone’s assistance to get the word out to their friends that if they experienced this issue in trying to order they will be able to get their orders in now.
Thanks for your help on this Lisa. This was an incredibly unfortunate event with timing which couldn’t have been worse. This is of course and evolving situation at this point. I will keep you posted if anything else changes. The software that we use for this is quite archaic, a real dinosaur in the technology world. We are literally praying that it will hold up under the additional load. While we don’t anticipate any further problems, it is possible, so I will keep you in the loop should anything happen” -Diane
As you can hear, it was genealogical serendipity struck in an unusual, and unfortunate way. But as soon as FamilySearch became aware of the problem, they went into action. I’m pleased and grateful that they have extended deadline, and that they make millions of genealogical records available to us every day. And I’m grateful to you, our Genealogy Gems community for getting into gear and bringing the situation to the forefront.
by Lisa Cooke | Nov 23, 2013 | 01 What's New, British, FamilySearch, Immigration, Irish, Records & databases
By S.MacMillen (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons.
The time period covered by these indexes includes an enormous wave of immigrants, mostly from southern and Eastern Europe. Italians, Portuguese, Russians (including Jews), Poles, Slavs and more entered the U.S. by the millions. Record content varies, but may include ports of departure and entry, age, birthplace, gender, marital status, occupation, citizenship or last country of resident, contact information for loved ones in the Old World or in the U.S., intended destination, and even a physical description. Images of the actual record can be viewed.
Also new at FamilySearch are nearly 1.5 million indexed records from the Mexico, Distrito Federal, Civil Registration, 1832-2005, collection and over half a million indexed records from the Hungary Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895, collection. See the table below for the full list of updates. Search these diverse collections and more than 3.5 billion other records for free at FamilySearch.org.
|
Collection
|
Indexed Records
|
Digital Images
|
Comments
|
| England, Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, Parish Registers, 1603-1910 |
35,896 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| Germany, Prussia, Brandenburg, Eberswalde, City Directories, 1890-1919 |
0 |
2,836 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Hungary Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895 |
572,243 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| Mexico, Distrito Federal, Civil Registration, 1832-2005 |
1,452,770 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| Netherlands, Limburg Province, Church Records, 1542-1910 |
0 |
131,396 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Russia, Samara Church Books, 1869-1917 |
88,149 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| Ukraine, Kyiv Orthodox Consistory Church Book Duplicates, 1840-1845 |
129,110 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| U.S., Florida, Marriages, 1830-1993 |
1,012,025 |
720,622 |
Added indexed records and images to an existing collection. |
| U.S., Iowa, State Census, 1905 |
1,445,414 |
0 |
New indexed record collection. |
| U.S., Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists, 1891-1943 |
2,829,077 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| U.S., Massachusetts, State Vital Records, 1841-1920 |
755,766 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| U.S., Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1883-1945 |
874,690 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 31, 2013 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, Family History Podcast, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Trees
Originally published 2009
Republished December 31, 2013
https://lisalouisecooke.com/familyhistorypodcast/audio/fh12.mp3
Download the Show Notes for this Episode
Welcome to this step-by-step series for beginning genealogists—and more experienced ones who want to brush up or learn something new. I first ran this series in 2008-09. So many people have asked about it, I’m bringing it back in weekly segments.
Episode 12: Post Your Family Tree Online
In this episode we focus on posting your family tree online. There’s no use in re-inventing the research wheel! By posting what you know about your family tree online you can easily connect with others who are researching people in your family tree. You can share information, collaborate and even get to know distant relatives.
Updates and Links
A few things have changed in online family tree services, including the 2013 acquisition of Geni.com by MyHeritage and the end of GeneTree. Check out these great sites for creating free family trees (you will need to create a free login to use these sites):
Ancestry.com
FamilySearch.org
Geni
MyHeritage
Mocavo
