Posted in Uncategorized on October 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I made an error in the article “More information on FH Centres and Online Film Ordering”!
The website for online film ordering is https://film.familysearch.org/ – and not films .familysearch.org as I inadvertently put on the first article we posted this morning
Sorry!
Posted in Family History Centres on October 31, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Thank you to Brother Piepgrass, Cardston FHC Director for sharing the following information:
We had our films listed in a Microsoft Works spread sheet. I went from Microsoft works spreadsheet to an Open Office Spreadsheet. From this I produced the necessary delimited file. Then I loaded this delimited file to Inventory Manager, and uploaded from there.
Most of the columns were blank. Perhaps only field 1 is really required to have values, but I included description and location fields also.
There are two documents of interest for importing to IM.
The following link should work for the first document. Since I can’t find a link that works for the second, I have included the full text as I received it. I thought it would be easier to find these documents but they don’t seem to be generally available.
https://help.familysearch.org/publishing/491/5607c_en_f.SAL_LocalSupport.html
Below is the text from Knowledge Document 5545c_en “Inventory Manager 2.2 import specifications for extended-loan film data”, which provides the file layout needed to import film information into Inventory Manager.
The file must be an ASCII text file (either DOS or Windows ASCII).
It must be a delimited, variable-length file, using the vertical bar (|) as field delimiter, and have one record per line with a carriage return as a record separator. Do not use quotation marks as a text qualifier.
The fields to be imported are:
GSNumber|DNumber|FicheParts|OrderCardNumber|Description|LocalityDescription|Surname|DateOrdered|DateShipped|DateReceived|Date1stRenewal|Date2ndRenewal|DateNotifyReceived.
The fields must be in the order listed above. If your system does not have the information for a field, skip it, but still include the vertical bar separator for that field. There should be 12 vertical bar separators per record.
Do not include the field names as the first record.
Note: All dates must be in month, day, year order, with a four-digit year and with leading zeros in day and month, using the forward slash as a separator. For example: 02/01/1999
Field Descriptions:
Field 1: GSNumber (Text 7): The film number assigned to the film in the Family History Library Catalog. This field is required. It is seven characters long. It must include leading zeros, and no alphabetical characters are allowed.
Field 2: Dnumber (Text 7): The part of the barcode number on the film box preceding the film number, beginning with a character, followed by a hyphen and a five-digit number. This field is optional. Note: This is the way Distribution Services distinguishes between multiple copies of the same film in the collection. If your system does not track this field, leave it blank.
Field 3: Fiche Parts (Number 4): The number of individual sheets of fiche assigned to the same fiche GS number. This field is optional. It will be set to A1″ by the system.
Field 4: OrderCardNumber (Number 6): The order number the film was originally ordered on. This field is six digits long. If your system does not track this number, leave it blank. Only numbers will be accepted. This field is optional.
Field 5: Description (Text 255): The title of the film as found in the Family History Library Catalog or a short description of the contents of the film. This field is optional. The field will accept 255 characters. Any more than that will be truncated.
Field 6: LocalityDescription (Text 255): The locality covered by the content of the film. This field is optional. The field will accept 255 characters. Any more than that will be truncated.
Field 7: Surname (Text 255): The surname that the content of the film is about. This field is optional. The field will accept 255 characters. Any more than that will be truncated.
Field 8: DateOrdered (MM/DD/YYYY): The date the film was ordered from Salt Lake City. This field is optional. (The date will be stored as ADate Created on System@).
Field 9: DateShipped (MM/DD/YYYY): The date the film was shipped by Distribution Services. This field is optional. If your file does not contain this date, the system will use the default, 01/01/1991.
Field 10: DateReceived (MM/DD/YYYY): The date the film was received at the family history center. This field is optional. If your file does not contain this date, the system will use the default, 01/01/1991.
Field 11: Date1stRenewal (MM/DD/YYYY): The first time the film was renewed (if your system tracks this information). This field is optional.
Field 12: Date2ndRenewal (MM/DD/YYYY): The second time the film was renewed (if it is now on extended loan). This field is optional.
Field 13: DateNotifyReceived (MM/DD/YYYY): The date the patron was notified that the film he or she ordered was received. This field is optional.
If you need clarification or additional help Brother Piepgrass has kindly offered his assistance. Contact him at ebpiepgrass@shaw.ca and then share telephone numbers.
Posted in Family History Centres on October 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
We were recently very fortunate to have a visit from Sister Karolia Hanson, who is the team leader at FamilySearch for FHC Support for North America and Online Film Ordering. Sister Hanson was only in Canada for a short time and wished that she could have stayed longer, travelled further, and met with more FHCs.
The following are notes summarized from meetings with Sister Karolia Hanson in Calgary and Lethbridge on October 21 and 23, 2010. A second article is being sent to you with detailed instructions on how to move data from a spreadsheet to IM to be included in an upload to Online Film Ordering. As several centres have already uploaded this second article may be too late to help you! Sorry!
General comments:
We need to reduce money handling in a FH Centre and eliminate it if possible.
Now over 2 million rolls of microfilm in the Granite Mountain Record Vault
As of August 2010 have scanned 541 million images which is about 16% of total
Microfilm will be here for at least 10 more years.
Online film ordering more efficient quicker process, but is a work in progress
Please help patrons to use the user guide at film.familysearch.org.
There is training for the Online Film Ordering Admin. Go to Get Help With This Page. It will bring up a document to help use the Admin System.
FamilySearch is very grateful for our help and they are doing all they can to make this easier for us.
Promise FHCs are not going away!
FHC or FamilySearch Centre? Name may change but not yet decided.
Online film ordering started in Australia, and NZ, and then UK where they are not using Inventory Manager (IM), but still had issues
Canada uses IM and has some issues.
Mainland Europe will go to Online Film Ordering by the end of this year. Online Film Ordering will be coming to the U.S. the first quarter of next year.
The upload from Inventory Manager is a two step process. Once the center director has done the first part, then Church Headquarters Support has to do the second step and push the information into the Online Film Ordering Admin. Lately the second step has gotten hung up, but should be getting better. If uploaded, your inventory will start to appear soon. It is manually being pushed into the system. It takes time. They are trying to develop a better way to move it over. (see email to FHCs 26 Oct)
Create an account first and sign in before you order or you get US$
Never hurts to go into Help and go to the User’s Guide. You can even print it out if you like as it is not too long.
A director can access the Admin site anywhere there is an Internet connection. You can access it at home if you have an Internet connection there
When you create an account an email is sent to you and you have to verify that you created an account.
Will only see what is in the centre after information moved to the system
“You are doing a great job,” Sister H
Question and Answer Session:
Q: How to send films back? – asked Support and told not to send back – will we be charged?
A: No. They are trying to develop a system with pre paid labels for returns
Q: Why do we keep getting boxes of one or two films?
A: Films are sent out as patrons order.
Q: Have noticed people doing testing in our system? If so would like some warning.
A: There should be no testing going on in the system. Have been trying to resolve some issues around cancelled orders, so let SLC know if someone has not been refunded.
Q: Are you planning to synch passwords and move to LDS accounts?
A: Using LDS Accounts to log in should be available by the end of the year.
Q: When will patrons be able to see when films are due back?
A: This will not happen until we solve problems of returns
Q: Orders of films in the old system used to come in 2 or 3 weeks, how long should they take in the new system?
A: The distribution side of system has not changed, so time should not differ. Back orders from the vault should take about one extra week if things are operating normally.
Q: I ordered in Canadian dollars but was billed in US dollars. Why?
A: Sign in before ordering or the system will default to US dollars. Always remember that your credit card company can charge a fee for currency conversion. Please send email notifying Support if being charged in US dollars.
Q: What if I want to use a US bank account for my order
A: Call online film ordering support and ask. (note Sister Hanson later sent us the following answer “When placing an order, after choosing the film and the loan type, a drop down menu appears where you can choose the type of currency you want to pay with. The patron can choose to pay in U.S. dollars there.”)
Q: What should I do about the inventory of fiche in our centre?
A: Remember that any fiche version of the IGI and catalog don’t have catalog numbers so don’t try to enter them. Any fiche starting with 6 is patron ordered fiche. Ask the patron before deciding to keep or discard. You can enter rest of your fiche into IM so it is included in your upload orr could just type then in later one at a time into online film ordering system
Uploading films and fiches is important to avoid people double ordering fiche.
N.B. Brother Piepgrass, FHC Director in Cardston has created a system to move fiche or film numbers from a spreadsheet into IM (Creates a delimited file from Spreadsheet) so can upload into IM so they can be uploaded without re-entering. He has done it from a Microsoft Works spreadsheet but it should also work from Excel. See the instructions he kindly provided that at the end of this document.
Q: Could we upload films now and do fiche later?
A: Yes, but then you would have to type the fiche information into online system one at a time
Q: Why are fiche so expensive now?
A: Wanted to charge a flat fee even though pages on a fiche vary, so $5 no many how many fiche in the order. This is easier for the system.
Q: Can we scan in film and fiche?
A: You can scan in films and fiche if they have a bar code
Q: Will we be getting library style circulation scanners?
A: You can buy one if you want – they are not very expensive – and scan bar codes right into online film ordering system. Remember that old films that don’t have bar codes. No current plans to distribute scanners to centres.
Q: Can we get inventory off new system?
A: Not yet. Feature still coming
Q : Can we print labels?
A: No. Request noted and will be passed on. Keep IM to print labels and if you wish to for inventory but not ordering
Q: How will we know when our uploaded data has been transferred into the new system?
A: Just starting to transfer uploaded data from centres.
Request: Can tell us when FamilySearch gets our upload and then tell us when get data transferred – by email? Will pass request on.
Q: Can we get “temporary” credit cards from the bank with say $50 on it and use it for online film ordering?
A:Yes – so long as it is Visa or MasterCard. They are the only credit cards which the system will accept. Adding Paypal soon
Request: When order sheets come in with the films can they have the patron’s name on them?
Q – What credit cards can we use?
A – Visa and Mastercard credit cards
Q: What if ordered as extended on IM – and now no way to move to indefinite?
A: Just keep them. Any IM orders you can just keep. Keep all films until find a way of returning – just mark them as returned in system
Q: Will we ever be able to see if a neighboring centre has the film?
A: Yes eventually when it goes into the catalog on familysearch.org
Q: We were told in training that if ordering film and not in your centre then it will tell you other centers within a certain radius that have the film – is this true?
A:Not sure
Q: Can we or should we charge for photocopying? Would like to be cash free . . .
A: Only country that is cash less in the FHC is UK, so you can still charge for photocopying. A Stake could decide not to charge for photocopying. If the volume of copying is low it may not be worth collecting.
Q: We found a lot of duplicate films when did inventory – should we send them back now or wait?
A: You can if you want or can keep until free shipping labels come. Suggestions: Send them back with someone going down to SLC or cross border and use pre-paid US label ( for those close to US border)
Q: Do we have to have patron’s information in our system?
A: If ordered film previously need correct information in IM with full details (including postal code) for it to move over – so they can see what they have in the new system. This will automatically create an account for them in the new system.
Q: How do patrons get a password for accounts automatically created when the data was uploaded from the old system?
A: The system will not allow the creation of a new account with an email that was used for an account uploaded from IM. If you think you have an account that was uploaded from the old system put in the email and click on forgot password to get a password.
Request: Please make the sign more visible that says that the film is already in the centre .
We hope that all FHC Directors got the following email that was sent on 26October 2010:
“FamilySearch is now loading your previously uploaded Inventory Manager files into the Online Film Ordering system. As a result, you should see a large surge of orders and films in your center’s account within the next few days. Please do not cancel these orders as they are legitimate orders that were requested from patron previously. This will allow you to have a record of your current inventory.”
Posted in Family History Centres, News on October 26, 2010 | 3 Comments »
We feel bad that the article this week was so short, so we wanted to add another! Especially as we have some good news – but only if you can keep a secret! Shh!
Did you see the Family Resources Catalog that came with the October 2010 Ensign magazine?
On page 12 you will see that FamilySearch has just released a DVD called A Celebration of Family History which is material from the NGS conference which was held in SLC in the Spring of 2010. Besides including keynote speakers President Eyring, and David McCullough, it also includes some very nice video clips.
The DVD is available online at http://store.lds.org for US$4.50. item 09312000. Shipping is free.
If you just want to watch the video clips for free, including a tour of the Granite Mountain Record Vault which is not on the DVD, go to YouTube.com and search for FamilySearch which will take you to the FamilySearch YouTube Channel.
To download the clips do a Google search “download from YouTube” which will take you to lots of choices like the website KeepVid.com
Now for the secrets . . . actually they aren’t really secrets . . I just wanted you to read the article!
We just thought you needed to know so that no FH Centre orders a copy of either DVD.
Maybe I have as yet undiscovered Scottish ancestry. I just love the Clan McCloud video clip!
Posted in FamilySearch.org, Historical Records on October 24, 2010 | 1 Comment »
When using historical records at beta.familysearch.org you might come across a “system origin of “EASy” and wonder what it means. For an example, see the record for Anna Pereira, baptized 19 Mar 1783 in São Luiz Rei, Mostardas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in the “Brazil Baptisms, 1688-1935” collection. According to the FamilySearch website, EASy stands for Extraction Administration System. This is the system used prior to FamilySearch Indexing“
Thank you to Ancestry Insider for telling us about this! http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/
Posted in Family History Centres on October 17, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Want to increase attendance at your FH Centre? We are grateful to those who share their initiatives aimed at increasing attendance at a FH Centre. We were grateful to the Edmonton Riverbend Family History Centre who shared the following:
Riverbend Stake Family History Centre
Ward-Assist Initiatives
1. Family History Classes
Thursday evenings, 23 Sep. to 25 Nov., from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Family History Centre.
Focus will be on Internet research, especially those sites free on FHC computers.
Each High Priests group leader, with the help of ward family history consultants, will designate/accept registration from two members of his ward (not family history consultants) for each class and notify Sis. ________by the Tuesday before classes, giving names and phone numbers/email addresses. Sis. ___________will contact registrants to confirm. Ward family history consultants are welcome to attend also if they wish
2. Ward Leadership FHC Visit
Each High Priests group leader will book an evening visit to the Family History Centre, either a Tuesday or a Wednesday, between September 21 and November 15, for information/training (book by Sep 30):
- Bring at least one representative from each quorum and auxiliary leadership in the ward with him,
- To learn about the recent important changes the Church has introduced to family history,
- To learn how the Family History Centre can be of help with these changes.
Book with Sis. _________________
3. Indexing at the Family History Centre
Each High Priests group leader will arrange for one YM/YW class from his ward per quarter (every three months) to come to the Family History Centre, on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening, to do service in Indexing. That means each class will get to come once every year and a half. Booking will be ongoing. Training will be provided by consultants at the Centre. The new wireless system facilitates personal laptops.
Book with Sis. _______________.
Contact information for FHC Director – name, telephone and email
Posted in Editorial comment, Family History Centres on October 3, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Co-author Teresa Tiefenbach, Family History Centre Director, Regina Stake
As we travel and meet people, we occasionally hear people questioning the need for Family History Centres (FHCs). We hear question such as: “Isn’t everything on the Internet?” “Now films are being digitized and indexed . .” “Do we need more than nFS?”
To answer these questions, we must understand the purpose of FHCs.
According to the Administration Guide for Family History, “family history centers are a valuable resource for family history consultants in helping members identify their ancestors and provide temple ordinances for them. Family history centers give members and community patrons access to family history resources, such as FamilySearch™ and the Church’s circulating collection of microfilmed genealogical records. Centers can train members and consultants in how to use family history resources” (p. 3).
The Church Handbook of Instructions further explains that “family history centers are effective to the extent that (1) all patrons are made to feel welcome to use the resources of the center, (2) members are providing temple ordinances for their ancestors, (3) nonmember patrons have opportunities to learn why members do family history work, and (4) both members and nonmembers are contributing their family-linked records to the Church” (Bk. 2, Sect 9, p. 267).
We feel strongly about this! FHCs continue to fulfill their purpose, as outlined in the Administration Guide for Family History, and they continue to be effective in meeting the needs of members, as well as community patrons. Below is a list of some of the reasons why FHCs are still needed:
We feel strongly about this! We still need our FH Centres!
Thanksgiving weekend 2010 – a good time to stop and reflect on our many blessings.
Posted in Editorial comment on October 10, 2010 | 4 Comments »
How thankful we should be to have come to earth at a time when the Gospel has been restored.
How thankful we should be to live where there are Temples – and although we know many of you live hours from a Temple – none of us live many days or weeks away.
How thankful we should be to be able to do Temple work for our ancestors
How thankful we should be to help others do work for their ancestors
How thankful we should be for the Family History program of the church. We know that it can be challenging at times with all the changes and new things to learn, but all the new tools and resources are great blessings. There are more great blessings coming!
How thankful we are for each of you and your efforts. You are wonderful.
Have a great Thanksgiving
Brother and Sister Darby
Share this: Print article
Like this:
Read Full Post »