USING A LDS FAMILY HISTORY CENTER #3 THE LDS FAMILY HISTORY LIBRARY CATALOG revised 6/97 The FHLC Family History Library Catalog is an essential research tool for US and foreign family historians. Every public library has a card catalog of its holdings and the LDS Family History Library is no exception. Additionally, the FHLC is available through each of the 2,000+ local FHCenters. How does the FHLCatalog compare to other library card catalogs? Remember your library classes in middle school? You learned that a public library card catalog has the following sections: AUTHOR - listing books by AUTHOR'S last name. TITLE - listing books/films/videos/etc by TITLE. SUBJECT - listing topics like NATIVE AMERICANS, or LOYALISTS during the Revolutionary War. The FHLC has these three sections, but adds two additional section of their card catalog: SURNAME LOCALITY Also, the FHLC interfiles the AUTHOR & TITLE sections into one section. Why use the FHLC? Use the FHLC to determine if the library in Salt Lake has any films/fiche available to order to view at your local FHCenter. Since over 5,000 items are being added to the collection per month, this catalog has to updated yearly. If you have ever been to the main FHLibrary, or have seen videos of the extensive collection you know that what is offered at your local FHCenter is merely a drop in the bucket. Most serious researchers order microfilms on a regular basis, by using the FHLC to find the correct film numbers, etc. Many of the books in the main FHLibrary's SURNAME section have been microfilmed. The 200 MOST USED REFERENCE WORKS are already on FICHE at your local Family History Center under the Special Collections I & II classification. How to use FHLC: This excellent resource is available on microfiche and on CD-ROM for those FHCs with FamilySearch (tm) computer systems. Each entry in the FHLC looks like a regular typed card in your local public library's card catalog. Call numbers are listed for books indicating their location at the main FHL in Salt Lake. Books are available ONLY at the main FHL but many are already on microfilm. This is particularly true with older books, where the copyright has expired. If the catalog entry is a microfilm, the film area (for benefit of Salt Lake City patrons) and film number are also listed. The same applies for microfiche. More Details: As I mentioned, the AUTHOR/TITLE are thrown together as one, with authors and titles of books interspersed alphabetically. You would look in this section of the FHLC on microfiche to locate a book where you already know the author or title and are quite sure of your facts. The SURNAME section of the FHLC on microfiche is where you will find all those family histories submitted by professional as well as amateur genealogists. (In other words, you must verify the documentation before accepting them as the gospel truth.) They are filed strictly by surname alphabetically. The catalog cross-lists the top five or ten surnames in each book. Because of this, you may actually find information on your ancestor, if a book happened to be written with a different surname in the title. The LOCALITY sectionof the FHLC is the largest and most used section of the catalog. It is available in both microfiche and CD-ROM format. This is where you look to see which microfilmed original records the FHLibrary for each of the localities where your ancestors lived. These records are not limited to the United States, but include records from all over the world. The collection is generally focused on the pre-1900 time period: bible records census (state, territorial and federal) church records (baptism, marriage, burial) city directories court records (probate, naturalization, civil, criminal) land records (grantee/grantor/tax lists) maps military records (service, pension, bounty land grants) passenger arrival records naturalization newspapers vital records (birth, marriage & death) Using the FHLC Locality Section is the place to save $$$$ by ordering a microfilm of a particular records instead of having to go to every little county to look in the original records books. In this manner, I was able to order Will Book A, Lincoln County KY for 1783 where on page 46 one finds the will of my 6th GGfather Paul Froman. Save your research dollars for those remote areas of Europe or Asia where the microfilming crews have not yet been allowed to work. Many of Anglo-Saxon records go back to 1500 (parish records in ENGLAND for example.) Often, these records would be too fragile to be viewed in person. Archivists are doubly thankful for the invention of the microfilming process, which was perfected around 1947. Microfilms are a solution to protecting these vital records from obliteration due to natural disasters or acts of war. Here's an Example: Suppose you wanted to look at original census records for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for 1880. FIRST, you would look in this LOCALITY SECTION of the FHLC. under PENNSYLVANIA then Philadelphia COUNTY then for CENSUS records Then the card catalog would list ALL films pertaining to that subject in DATE order, so you would have to scan down the list past the 1790-1870 census films, in order to find your 1880 census listing. There would also be a listing for the census soundex as well as the actual census films for each county. You would then make a note of the microfilm number to palce your order. How to Order a Microfilm/Microfiche from the FHLCatalog: Your local FHC volunteer will help you fill out an order form and collect a small fee to cover the cost of handling/mailing. All US FHCenters now charge $3.50 for 5 week loan. It can be extended for short term for $3.50, if you find that there are a number of individuals whose records are on the film, and you would like to have more time to sort things out. You can also extend the film to long term loan for another $3.50. That means the film will remain in your local LDS FHC for viewing at any time in the future. Some centers require you to submit a REQUEST to change the film to long term, due to space limitations. When requesting a film, how long does it take to get it? It takes 3-6 weeks for the delivery of ordered microfilms. However, our local FHCenter reports that it normally takes about 2 weeks before the film arrives. The Microfilm Order Center pulls the microfilms on the day they get your FHC order, which your local center can phone or fax to order. If they do not have a rental copy of the microfilm in stock, service center personnel either wait for a return rental, or request another copy if the film's popularity warrants the expense. Microfiche orders are made and shipped separately. The FHC volunteer informs you when your film has arrived. However, oddly enough, under new Microfilm Order Center policy, your rental time starts clicking from the day the microfilm is mailed by the FHC Service Center. For this reason, be sure to go in immediately and view your microfilms. Our local FHC takes appointments for microfilm readers, which certainly helps. What if its a book not available on microfilm? -- If the book you want to view is not yet available on microfilm, you can ask the local FHC volunteer for a PHOTO DUPLICATION FORM. On receipt of this request form, a volunteer at the main FHL will photocopy only that part of the INDEX which would possibly cover your surname. You may subsequently request that a volunteer photocopy the exact pages covering your particular ancestor. Are there books such as the History of Erie Co. etc? Yes, many US county histories were done during the late 1800's. These valuable, though sometimes self-serving publication list older individuals who were interviewed about people/places/news of the early days of the county. Does the FHLC include Passenger lists? Yes, many passenger records, baggage claim lists, and other ships records these are available on microfilm. The FHL has acquired 99% of National Archives passenger records. However, some indexes to passenger arrival records like P. William Filby's popular series are published so recently and are covered by a copyright. You must view these at the main LDS FHLibrary or at your local larger public library. What does the X on the right side of a catalog entry mean? This is a very important point! If you find a book/film which has an "X" beside the film number or call number, it means that the names/dates/events have already been extracted to the IGI (International Genealogical Index) which was discussed in a previous article. I still recommend that you look at the original record, rather than trust secondary information collected in the IGI. Original documents might have additional information not included in the extracted, computerized version. Microfilm Request: -- There is a remote possibility that FHLibrary will microfilm an old book. Such requests are considered rare, and the process takes over a year to run through the system. What about the CD-ROM version of the FHLC? Our center has two computers, so it the microfiche version of the catalog is more readily accessible to researchers. The FHLC on CD-ROM allows searches by: locality microfilm number computer number Additionally, if you find a microfilm you wish to view, you can press a key to find out which local centers have that microfilm on long term loan. If your center, or a neighboring one has the film you desire, you can cut down the research time by going there to view the film. Note that with the FHLC on CD-ROM you cannot query by surname. Any references to books on a specific surname would only pop up if a locality is indexed by the cataloger. The microfilm number search is quite useful when you read in a journal that a certain LDS microfilm has something of interest. Often this eliminates the possibility of ordering the wrong film, due to a typographical error in the journal. The computer search number is useful to the FHCenter librarian. Additional reading: Cerny, Johni & Elliott, Wendy, editors, THE LIBRARY: A Guide to the LDS Family History Library, 1988. pp.-5. Salt Lake: Ancestry Publishing. LDS Family History Library, Research Outline: Using the Family History Library Catalog. IBID., video Using the Family History Library Catalog.