Summer Discovery Club

We are always delighted when you share the great things you are doing! . . . . so we were very pleased to get the following from the Calgary FH Centre – although it is set up for FHC staff we think all of us would benefit by doing it!

CFHC Summer Discovery Club

CFHC Staff members: Make this a summer of discovery.

Each week choose a Question and/or an Activity to complete and then fill in the calendar chart provided. At our staff training meetings in the fall come and we’ll share something that we have learned.

Questions - Choose a question for which you don’t know the answer and fill in the calendar chart provided.

Most important is to record how to find the answer so you will be able to find it again. (If you need help with some of these questions or activities, see what you can find out through the FamilySearch Help Center or the Research Wiki or ask a fellow staff member)

1. When do Vital Records begin in Ontario?
2. How do I find an Irish birth civil registration? Record the film number one would need to order for the birth registration of James Robinson, born 10 March 1905 in County Armagh, Ireland. Include the volume and page number and Quarter. (Clue: The answer is not film number 101070. That is the index film which will tell you the volume, page and quarter.) Record the steps needed to find the actual registration.
3. How do I order a film?
4. Where do I go to find the new policy, as of this Feb 2012, relating to getting permission before doing temple work?
5. Where can I go to find pre-civil registration records in Scotland? Record three places to find these.
6. In British Free BMD’s how do you find a birth registration?
7. Where in the CFHC can you find a blank Family Group Sheet or Pedigree Chart?
8. What is the British Parish Locator. Where is it? How do I use it?
9. On new.FamilySearch how do I remove (delete) an individual that does not belong to my family if I did not contribute the information? Find a Knowledge Document for this situation and record the document number and how you found it.
10. If you have a Knowledge Document number and want to know what it says, how do you find it?
11. What are two sites where you can find Border Crossings between Canada and the US? Record how to navigate in these sites to get to the Border Crossings.
12. LDS Family History Suite #2. Where is it and what can you find there?
13. What kinds of things do you find at the Godfrey Memorial Library subscription site (free at the FHC)

Activities -Do the activity and record something you learned and where you found it.

14. Watch a research course video from the Learn Tab on FamilySearch. There are hundreds of videos that range from 5 minutes to an hour in length.

15. Watch to a Roots Tech 2012 Video: http://rootstech.org/videos. Scroll down and choose from19 great videos.

16. Do a batch of Indexing.

17. Read the Darby’s weekly article http://peterfh.wordpress.com

18. Record something you learned from What’s New on FamilySearch

19. Register for access to FS Family Tree and record where to go to do that.

20. Learn how to Use FastStone Capture. Copy and Caption and Save an image to a flash drive. (If you don’t have a flash drive, know how to help a patron to do this.) If you wish, copy the FastStone Capture tool to your flash drive and also to your home computer for your personal use.

21. On findagrave.com -find Hans Dietrich in the Manti Cemetery in Utah.

-find James C Cahoon in the Cardston, AB Cemetery.

-try to find one of your own ancestors on this site.

22. Google: Peel’s Prairie Provinces. In the Henderson Directories for Calgary in 1912 find Thomas D Smith, living at 313 11 Ave W in the Street Index which begins on page 197. Then find him again in the Alphabetical Index which begins on Page 325. What are the two page numbers where Thomas D Smith is found?

23. Read an article from the Research Wiki. E.g. “Principles of Family History Research” or “Preserving Photographs and Documents” or “Creating a Personal Journal” or read an article relating to the locality you are researching. There are over 67,000 articles to choose from.

Each week answer a question or do an activity of your choice so that you learn something new.

CFHC Summer Discovery Club Calendar Chart

Goal: Learn and record something new each week

Unfortunately this chart can’t be shown properly in this article. It has 3 columns – headings shown below – the boxes under each heading of about 5 cm high – under the question or activity column the first item is the dates for a week e.g. Week of June 3 to 9, then Week of June 10 to 16, and so on for the summer.

Question or Activity What did I learn? How/Where to find this information

Obviously you can change the questions and activities to suit your FH Consultants. It would be great to learn something new each week throughout the summer.

The Calgary FH Centre would appreciate your suggestions to improve this project. Just put them in Comments.

Thank you to the Director and Staff of the Calgary FH Centre for sharing this with us.
!

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Putting our FAMILY in Family History – The First Annual Raymond Stake “Family” Family History Fair

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending and helping with the Raymond Stake Family History Fair.  We thought this was a very very successful event which other stakes might want to try.  The Raymond Stake has been kind enough to share their plan with us.  About 150 people attended the Fireside and over 160 people attended the classes on Saturday.  The lunch of soup, whole wheat bread, cookies, and apple crumble (made from dried apples) was delicious.  Obviously a lot of planning and preparation went into the event and we have included some of the outlines. Another element that made the event so successful was the large number of presenters and helpers from organizations throughout the stake.   Congratulations Raymond Stake!

The following is an extract of their outline for the fair.  Please contact us if you need a complete copy of the outline and contact information for the FH leaders in the Raymond Stake.

On Friday evening, April 20^th and during the day, Saturday April 21^st, The Raymond Stake will host a Family History Fair, centered in Family History activities that we can do as families.

Our Goals

• Help our stake families to understand their ancestors and how they contribute to who and what we are today
• Provide family centered activities to help us learn about and enjoy our family backgrounds and history
• Show what is available and build interest within our Stake in family history and genealogy work

The Format

Our fair will be in two parts. It will begin with a family fireside on Friday evening at 7:00 pm at the Stake Center Chapel. Peter & Linda Darby, our Area Family History Advisors, will be the speakers. During the day Saturday we will host a “drop in” smorgasbord of family centered Family History activities at the Stake Centre and Cultural Hall. This will begin at 9 am and continue till around 4:30 pm. Attendees will be able to choose from a range of concurrent activities, classes, displays and programs, each one repeating 6 times, at 9:30, 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30. Some of the activities may require a previous signup with designated times for attending. Others will be “free form” and “drop in”. All will be designed for entire families to participate in. Each will take about 45 minutes, and allow 5 to 10 minutes for questions after, and 5 minutes to move the group out and a new one in. Lunch will be provided in the Cultural Hall between 12:30 and 1:30 (the Stake Emergency Preparedness group will be handling this so it could be interesting as well as filling).

The planned activities and their coordinating/sponsoring High Priests groups are: 

#1 – Build Your Family Tree and put it on your mantle, save it for a rainy day. (1^st Ward)

#2 – How can I write a journal when I can’t even write a note? (4^th Ward)

#3 – Can I really learn anything useful from my grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles? (7^th Ward)

#4 – What is indexing and do I need a dictionary to do it? (5^th Ward)

#5 – What does our family stand for, how are we unique, and where did we get our family traditions, traits, habits, recipes and all these things that make us who we are? (3^rd Ward)

#6 – How were the lives of our ancestors different from ours, and how were they similar (9^th Ward)

#7 – What is this whole NewFamilySearch thing, why is it “new” and is my family really lost enough that I need to be searching for it? (8^th Ward)

#8 – I’ve got all these old photos and artifacts and stuff – are they good for anything and if so, how can I save and use them? (6^th Ward)

#9 – What’s at the Family History Centre and what can it do for my family? (2^nd Ward)

There will be two additional activities that are not repeating “classes” but will be more of a service booth approach:

#10 – “The Doctors are IN” – what FH problems can we help you solve? (Area FH Advisors)

#11 – Haven’t registered for new FamilySearch yet? – Here is your chance – (Stake Clerk and FHC Staff)

What’s next

We are working with the High Priest Group Leaders to define and refine the activities and help find ways to make them whole family experiences. Someone has been assigned to coordinate a publicity campaign and we will all keep reinforcing in a positive way that this is a “Family” Family History event. We also plan to have family history related displays in the Cultural Hall and North Stake Centre foyers, – posters, materials, some artifacts and such.

Please contact (member of HC or FHC Directors) with suggestions, feedback and ideas.

 

Putting our FAMILY in Family History – April 21, 2012

Activity #1 – Build Your Family Tree (and put it on your mantle) – First Ward

Message – Families are made of real people who are connected in ways we can understand

Activity Description – As a family, talk about what a family tree is. Families can make a physical family tree that can be taken home and displayed, and can also register and receive a fanchart printout showing 9 generations of their family ancestors.

Target Group – Families with younger children for the physical tree and any family for the fanchart

Coordinator – 1^st Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake Primary people and ward people as needed

What we need

• A simple way that people can select pieces, put names on them and construct a tree form showing their family relationships
• Some posters and discussion points or illustrations about relationships, what they are called and how they fit together
• A computer and printer setup to load and print fancharts from the NewFamilySearch website

The Take-home – an individual family tree, a visual reminder of how and who makes up our family

 

Activity #3 – Can I really learn anything new or useful from my grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles? – Seventh Ward

Message – Our ancestors and their experiences can be a blessing to us, but only if we know who they are and what they did. We can find these things out by talking to them about their lives and keeping notes or a recording in some way

Activity Description – Examples of Q and A family firesides, possibly a church video on interviewing, ask some of the questions and get the answers, talk about recording with ink and ipods

Target Group – Families with living relatives (that’s most of us)

Coordinator – 7^th Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake YW, YM

What we need

• Illustrations of things learned from our progenitors and family members
• An opportunity to interview someone about a specific event as a learning process
• Discussion and examples about ways to preserve an interview
• A real interview with a family member about some significant event – marriage, first child, mission

The Take-home – a better knowledge of a family event or member and an understanding of how to find out about other events that have meaning from our past

 

Activity #4 – What is indexing and do I need a dictionary to do it? – Fifth Ward

Message – Indexing can be fun and it blesses us all – it is a powerful way to help Family History efforts

Activity Description – A presentation/demonstration about indexing along with actual involvement in indexing records

Target Group – All, with some emphasis on the “gadgetized” youth

Coordinator – 5^th Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Stake Indexing director

What we need

• A location with a computer or two, a large monitor or projector and internet access
• Some demonstrations and illustrations about  the Church indexing program and why it helps us
• Discussion about the youth site at LDS.Org/youth/family-history
• Demonstrations on a smartphone/iphone and/or a tablet
• Some fairly easy record sets to work with
• Those taking this class will need their membership number and birth date if they are not registered already

The Take-home – an understanding of indexing and its importance in family history work

 

Activity #9 – What is at the Family History Centre and what can it do for my family? – Second Ward

Message – Tools, resources and training for our research needs can be found at the FHC

Activity Description – Show what is available at the FHC and what help we can receive there

Target Group – all

Coordinator – 2^nd Ward High Priests

Possible assisting organization – Family History Directors

What we need

• Sample setups from the FHC, one computer workstation, one microfilm reader, one microfiche reader, internet
• A presentation/discussion about what you can do at home and what you can do at the Center
• Illustrations of ways the FHC can complement family research at home

The Take-home – an understanding of where a Family History centre can help a family in their Family History program.

 

 

 

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1. FH Centre equipment – replacement and parts, 2. 110 year rule

 

by Bill Buchanan

Recently on a forum on the Internet the question was asked about how to get replacement parts for microfilm readers in FH Centres.

At http://familysearch.org/serve there are videos of talks in the FHC

Director area.  One of them is about Family History Center Equipment from the Open House 2011.  In this talk we are told about computer and printer replacement – well worth listening to – and close to the end (28 min 14 sec) Donna Miller tells us that we can get replacement parts for microfilm readers by asking for them from FH Centre Support at FamilySearch.  The following direct link will take you to the talk.

http://broadcast.lds.org/elearning/FHD/Local_Support/FHC/Open_House_2011/Family_History_Center_Equipment.P2G/Player.html

(shortened form http://goo.gl/1Mwbg )

It seems likely that microfilms will be with us for another 10-15 years or so, although they will decrease in importance over time.

It might also be good to check with your FM group.  They may be aware of surplus parts or even surplus replacement microfilm readers in your area.

2. 110 year rule

You might want to review the following knowledge document that is available in the Help Centre at either FamilySearch.org or new.FamilySearch.org

Knowledge Document 113599

“Information regarding the upcoming change from the 95 year policy to the 110 year policy

At the RootsTech 2012 conference, it was announced that the rule relating to getting permission before doing living ordinances is changing. The new FamilySearch website is currently being updated to accommodate this new policy. This update will be available in the next few weeks. Until then, please keep in mind this new policy.

The new policy is as follows:

Before doing ordinances for a deceased person born in the last 110 years, please remember that close relatives may not want the ordinances performed, or they may want to do the ordinances themselves.

You may do ordinances for your own deceased spouse, child, parent, or sibling, but please consider the wishes of other close living relatives, especially a living spouse.

If you are not a spouse, child, parent, or sibling of the deceased, please obtain permission from the closest living relative before doing the ordinances. The closest living relatives are, in this order: an undivorced spouse (the spouse to whom the individual was married when he or she died), an adult child, a parent, or a brother or sister.

Verbal approval is acceptable. Family members should work together to determine when the ordinances will be done and who will do them.

This is scheduled to be released in the next FamilySearch update.

For information on what to do with family ordinance cards that were printed by mistake, see 1008370.”

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Reviving a FH Centre

by

Bill Buchanan

If I were trying to revive a stake FHC, here are some ideas I would try:

1. Create a schedule of fairly basic lessons. We have more patrons when we

have lessons to offer.

2. Phone each ward to get the name, phone number and email address of the

bulletin editor and HPGL.

3. Contact each bulletin editor to verify their email address.

4. Send each editor and HPGL a copy of the schedule of lessons and ask to

have it included in their bulletin for the next two weeks.

Ask them to include the hours of operation as a standing item in each weekly

bulletin.

5. Make sure that your hours of operation and phone number are listed in the

stake directory, and maybe the FamilySearch wiki.

6. Get a list of all the ward consultants with their contact information.

7. Schedule a monthly training meeting for constultants and other staff.

8. Make sure your stake president and your high councillor over genealogy

know who you are and what you are doing.

9. Find out who your area FH advisor is, and what suggestions they have.

Their support can be a tremendous benefit.

10. Try to recruit staff that are comfortable with technology. Maybe that

recently released YW president or High Councillor? That young man that needs

to wait a year before serving a mission? Or that couple who just returned

from a mission where they used Skype for a weekly visit with their families?

If you are the director, a few strong assistants can help to move the work

forward.

11. Delegate these tasks as necessary.

12. Always pray for guidance and help.

 

Thank you, Bill!

 

Bonus!

More information on FHCs

From Knowledge Document (KD) 101753 – “The future for family history centers (from question and answer session with Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the First Quorum of Seventy and Executive Director of the Family History Department.

Q.(Family history center director) My question is just what is the future for family history centers?

A.(Elder Jensen) Family history centers will continue to exist. Family history centers are a resource for family history consultants to help members identify their ancestors and provide temple ordinances for them. Members and community patrons can use the resources available in family history centers to extend their family history research.

Q.(Family history center director) I can see from this presentation that the Church is providing the members with new family history resources. How will those resources affect family history centers?

A.(Elder Jensen) The Church will increasingly make family history information available online for members to conveniently use at home. In areas of the world where home access to the Internet is generally available, we likely will not see many additional centers approved.

In some areas of the world, access to the Internet from home is still relatively limited. Members and consultants in these areas can use the Internet connection in family history centers to do family history work and prepare names of ancestors for submission to the temple. In these areas, the Church may approve additional family history centers where needed.

Family history centers have provided exceptional service to our members for many years, and they will continue to do so.”

_____________________________________________

“To Turn the Hearts – Leader’s Guide to Temple and Family History Work” p 9.

“Family history centers give members and community patrons access to family history resources, including:

• Genealogical resources

• Classes and workshops on family history

• One-on-one assistance

As stake leaders seek to accomplish specific public affairs goals, they view family history centers as a unique and effective way to enhance the Church’s position in the local community. The majority of the patrons who use family history centers are not members.”

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Increase Family History Center Attendance

The following article is by Ralph and Linda Miller, who are Area Advisers in New England.  LIke many of us, they are concerned about FHC attendance!  Here are their suggestions.

“Some people wonder whether family history centers are still needed when so much information is available on the internet.  Actually, family history centers are more important than ever.  In addition to special resources, they offer one-on-one help, a friendly hand that can help sort out the myriad of data and help them map a path and a plan.

Family History Center usage is low in our region – especially by LDS church members.  Some FHC workers or leaders assume that if the people aren’t coming to the center, it is because they are working at home.  But this is generally not the case.  Why?  Because they don’t know what to do, either at home or at the family history center.

So show them.   Many people don’t visit because they don’t have (a) a specific invitation, and (b) an agenda.  Give them a specific invitation for a specific time, and let them know that they aren’t responsible for figuring out what to do when they get there.  That’s what you want to show them.

As a beginning point, schedule ward council members (one at a time or with their family) to come to the family history center.   Family history is a tool that can help the ward council accomplish its goals for the ward.  To be effective, ward council members need to understand what the family history center offers and how it feels to go there.

What do you do with them while they are there? Your family history center staff may want to develop a sample agenda that can be used for visits.  Brainstorm together to come up with a simple, brief introduction that helps members understand how to begin their family history.  You may want to include an introductory video or two.  In addition to technical information, don’t forget the video clips available on the DVD that can be used for the Family History Course.  These clips bring the spirit and give a doctrinal foundation.  You don’t need to show all the clips – select one or two.

Once you come up with one agenda, you may want to develop one or more follow-up agendas.  An agenda for non-members might be useful as well.  This could include an overview of resources as well as a brief explanation of why family history is important and interesting.

Some suggested things to consider for an introductory visit:

• Have them sign in to NFS.  If they haven’t already registered, help them register.

• In NFS, have them look at “see me and my ancestors.”  Does their family pedigree extend back?  Or do they need to link some people in?  If so, help them link some ancestors so the family pedigree is more complete.  If they don’t have the information with them, make a note so you can schedule a follow up visit with them.

• If there are blanks, show them resources available in the Family History Center Portal that can help them.  For instance, see if they can find an ancestor’s family in www.ancestry.com (for example, in the census).

• If they aren’t interested or ready to research, show them some of the videos available from fhc.familysearch.org under “Classes and workshops.”  For a first visit, don’t try a long class – start with a 5-minute genealogy episode or two.  Or from the list on the left, click on “beginner” and see what courses catch your eye.  Watch the videos together – you may learn something too.

• If they are young or work with youth, show them lds.org/familyhistoryyouth and view the modules and videos there.  There are several in each section, and all are different.

• Use other resources available, such as www.familysearch.org to search for more information about family members.

Tip:  Even if NFS shows a checkmark, indicating all temple work is done for a family, it doesn’t necessarily mean all family members in that family are listed in NFS.  Check vital records or censuses to make sure you have all the family members.  Show them how ancestry.com can help them assess whether family members are missing.”

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BYU FH Conf 2011 – a few gleanings

The conference was wonderful – there were over 600 people in attendance – I thought about each of you and wondered how I could share what I learned . . . .  then I realized that you are all on holiday and probably don’t want to know right now – so I had better keep this short!

There were thunderstorms the first 3 evenings I was in Provo including one quite violent storm – so I felt right at home!

1. Familysearch is trying to bring all data sets and tools into one place – this first version feels a little stitched together – 2nd version being mapped out now will allow parts to talk to each other.  Some products built on old technology e.g. fs.org almost 15 years old, record search could not be scaled up .  There are 2.25 billion records on the new site so far – and growing.
2. Images owned by various organizations – will shortly indicate if there is an image freely available or where it is available if not for free.  Current image viewer built on Flash – will be replaced in a few months with one built in HTML
3. FamilySearch.org has added Pedigree Resource File (PRF) to the Trees tab – and not the 100 million records that are on the old FamilySearch.org but after eliminating the living there are about 200 million records in the collection on the new site.  At the moment searches for the PRF are mixed in with searches for Ancestral File (AF) – but expect that to change in the future – it would be good to send Feedback suggesting the kinds of filters you would like.  I attended a session with one of the engineers working on the search engine.  They are working hard to continue to improve the product and appreciate our Feedback.
4. Search tips for Familysearch historical records – down arrow on right in list of search results to see a preview within the results list.  See articles on searching posted on this blog on 12 and 19 June 2011.
5. Historical records collections are being added to almost weekly – keep encouraging the indexing!  Now 681 collections.  Tip:  if you browse collections did you know you can sort any of the 3 columns by clicking in the column heading!  So you can sort by Records or by Last updated or by Title.
6. Catalog at familysearch.org continues to be improved – data is all there now but the design in not finalized – send Feedback – when get a results page it tells you how many items in each result and clicking on one of the results creates a drop down preview within the results list so you can easily go back.
7. maps.familysearch.org – continues to be a great product for those of us researching England (cry your heart out if you are researching other countries!).  I noticed during the conference that they now have a view that uses the UK Ordnance Survey maps – look for OS map button on upper right.
8. Rootsmagic news – I asked Bruce Buzbee if they were going to create a Macintosh version of Rootsmagic.  He said that they are awaiting the release of a mac compiler from their software tool company and then would be working on a mac version.  Reasonable estimate of public release is one year from now!  Meanwhile Rootsmagic have a great article on how to run Rootsmagic on mac (go to Rootmagic.com and the support and search for mac).  They offer several ways to do this.
9. Please consider and encourage the use of the FamilySearch Research classes in your FHC.  You can find the ever growing list at Learn and then the link to Research Classes in the lower centre.  I can see this being done very effectively by inviting a group of people to a lesson in the FHC – watching the lesson together and then discussing parts of it.  Is pop corn allowed in a FHC for the first part?  Perhaps the list of possible lessons could be circulated and people could select the ones they are interested in and then you could schedule them for the group.

Great keynote presentations!  They flew in Joshua Taylor from the New England Historic  Genealogical Society.  You don’t want to know how young he is!  He helped with some of the Who Do You Think You Are tv shows – and shared some experiences.  He showed some pictures behind the scenes during the making of the Ashley Judd episode.

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How to Donate Family History Books

Occasionally we hear of people who have a family history book that they would like to donate.  We know that some of our FH Centres have donated books on the shelf.  Some times however the person would like to donate the book to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  How do you do that?

We would suggest that you do the following:

1. Go to FamilySearch.org then click on Help in the upper right hand corner
2. In the box below Ask a Question type in Donate Books and then click Search
3. The following is from a knowledge document entitled “How patrons can donate or loan records, books, or personal genealogy to Family History Library acquisitions” (number 101707)

“Many valuable records have been added to the Family History Library by patrons sending in their records to be copied and returned. The digital copy is placed in the library. We will need information about the records you want to have digitized so we can determine if they meet our criteria.

Donations may be sent to the following address:

FamilySearch

Library Rights–Gifts

50 East North Temple Street

Salt Lake City, UT 84150-0005

USA

Donations may also be delivered to the Family History Library donation desk, located in the main floor lobby.

For a complete list of items and guidelines for donating to FamilySearch, please see “Gifts, Donations, and Loans to FamilySearch,” attached and posted on FamilySearch.org. To locate these guidelines, go to http://www.familysearch.org, select FamilySearch Centers, then Family History Library, then Gifts and Donations, and then Donations to the Family History Library.

A summary of the items FamilySearch will accept is listed below.

FamilySearch will accept only materials that:

• Are readable, organized, and accessible to help researchers identify individuals and relationships by name, date, and place.
• Add new information to FamilySearch’s collection (duplicate materials are not accepted).
• Fit in available shelf space.
• Do not violate current privacy and copyright laws.

FamilySearch accepts the following materials:

• Autobiographies and biographies containing genealogical material.
• Family histories with genealogical information.
• Indexes to records.
• Local histories (limited).
• Well organized collections of genealogical and research materials (if preapproved by Library Rights).

FamilySearch accepts the following materials only if submitted with a Permission to Duplicate form signed by the copyright owner or legal custodian of the original documents:

• Census records.
• Directories (limited).
• Genealogical periodicals.
• Newspaper extracts (such as obituaries).
• Commercially available computer software.
• Original records, such as cemetery records, church records and histories, court records, land records, military records, naturalization records, passenger lists, probate records, and vital records.”

There is then 2 attachments:

1. Donations guidelines
2. Permission request

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Where to register as a Consultant, FH Centre Director or Priesthood leader

Obviously all of us should have registered for an LDS Account which we use at familysearch.org, new.familysearch.org, indexing, the research wiki (Learn link at familysearch.org) and to use the Forums (go to Familysearch.org, click on Help and then click on Community Assistance).

If you want to register for an LDS Account then either:

1.  go to new.familysearch.org and click on the link to Register , or

2.  go to familysearch.org then click on Sign in and then click on Create New Account

We welcome and encourage members of the public to register for a FamilySearch account.

It is also important that you register based on your calling.  For this go to familysearch.org/serve where you will be given the opportunity to register after you sign in with your LDS Account.

Why do this? 1.  To get news and updates directly from FamilySearch to your email box, and 2.  Get access to training and resources.

There is a new Knowledge Document that will help you understand why and also give detailed steps on how to register!

Sign in to either familysearch.org or nFS and go to Help or the Help Center, then search for the following document – 109348 – just type the number in the search space.  The document is entitled: FamilySearch Registrations for Serving in Family History.

There are sections for each of 1. FH Centre Directors and Assistants, 2. FH Consultants, and 3.  Priesthood Leaders

Then there is a section that deals with updating your profile if your email address changes or if you have a change in your calling.

Finally there are links at the end of the document to 2 other documents – one for new FH Centre Directors and one on FH Centre resources.

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Resource to help with teaching the Temple and FH Course

We are pleased to meet many of you who are teaching the Temple and Family History Course (aka the 7 “basic lessons”).  We were just discussing how to supplement  the materials at a recent training session!

Then I came across the following link:

http://familyhistory.byu.edu/

There is a lot of interesting and useful material on this BYU site!  For the moment don’t be distracted by all these good things,  just scroll down to Family History Companion.  Click on this link!

“Welcome to the Family History Guide Companion!

The purpose of this course is to supplement the Member’s Guide published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by providing additional resources, insights, and information on how to access information that can be used in compiling your family history and provide the necessary ordinances for their salvation. We hope that the material presented here will also help you to come to know who your ancestors are as people and individuals.

In order to get the most out of this class, there will be assignments outside of class. The best way to effectively learn how to do family history research is to actually do research. Therefore, you will be asked to select a family or individual that you wish to come to know and find information about in order to provide temple ordinances. Once this family or individual is selected, there will be simple things that we will ask you to do to successfully find information about them.

We have been asked of the Lord, “Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.” (D&C 128:24.)

We hope to be able to help you successfully accomplish family history research in a way that is pleasing unto the Lord, to your ancestors, and to you.”

Each lesson has:

• Additional Resources
• Additional Insight
• Suggested Additional Assignments
• Handout

Of course these are only suggestions – but we hope you find something helpful!

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Addendum – FHC wiki pages

Try the Riverbend EdmontonFHC wiki page  - go to FamilySearch.org, click on learn, then search for FHC Riverbend – the one and only result will lead you to the Alberta Edmonton Riverbend FHC wiki page.  Congratulations to Lonni, Bill, and everyone at Riverbend

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Bits and Pieces

1.  Online film ordering and PayPal.  Am I the last one to find out?  Do you ever struggle with trying to keep up to date? – and feel that you are the last one to find out?  Well, I sometimes get that feeling too!  Somewhere sometime in the past week I seem to remember – no small feat – talking to someone about online film ordering and giving them a brief overview of the process.  I told them you could use a credit card or a fixed amount disposal credit card – but I didn’t tell them that you could use PayPal!  Oops!  I see that PayPal is now an option for online film ordering . . . .   Don’t tell me how long ago the change was made – probably a long time ago!  Now those who didn’t want to use a credit card should be happy . . . but perhaps there will be people who don’t know what PayPal is nor how to use it! (go to paypal.com and look on the left mid screen for the link to “How PayPal Works”).  I have had a PayPal account for a long time and found it useful for online ordering.
2. familysearch.org/serve  I used to type in consultant.familysearch.org but now I type in familysearch.org/serve and get to the same site!  Fewer letters to type! This is the place to register if you are a FH Consultant or FH Centre Director or Priesthood leader with FH responsibilities.  You can also edit your registration – and update your email address! You need to sign in to use this site – use your LDS Account.  This web site is also the new location for training resources for FH Consultants and FH Centre Directors.  There are already several resources listed.  The first item on the list under Core Training is “online training.”  This takes you to Internet learning where you can see the modules available to you based on your calling – and which ones you have completed or have underway.
3. Wiki page for your FH Centre  Did you know that your FH Centre can have its own wiki page provided by FamilySearch? To see a sample go to familysearch.org then click on Learn and search for FHC.  A good example of what you can do is the Logan FHC. There is a link also to a template and instructions on how to create your page.  Let us know if you create one.
4. The Future of PAF  Periodically this topic seems to pop up!  If you are a PAF user and like using it – do not stress!  You can still use it . . . .  and products like Family Insight will help you work between your PAF file and nFS.  It used to be that everyone in the church used PAF – but now we have choices.  There are several products that work with nFS.  There are even several free alternatives.  You get to chose for yourself! We hope you like your choice – if you don’t then change to something else – moving data between programs is usually not too hard.  We hope you are an enthusiast for whatever product you use.  Please be careful however that you don’t try to force your choice on others!  Resist saying that one product is better than another.  There are lots of good products and what is good for one person’s style of working may not be good for another person.  Resist pressure from patrons to just tell them what to use.  If you can’t resist the pressure – they really are putting the thumbscrews on you! – then suggest they use PAF!

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