New LDS web site--available now. ---------- > > > > http://lds-online.com/family.htm > > > > An article from the Global Gazette in February > > says: > > > > LDS Family History Library WebSite in 1999 > > > > Rumors are flying about the possibility that the > > Family History Library in Salt Lake City might be > > starting a website. > > > > It's true. Curt Witcher, a director of GENTECH, > > attended their annual conference recently in Utah > > and came back with details about this long-awaited > > site. He shared them with me. > > > > The site will begin sometime in the second quarter > > of this year. Its name will be FamilySearch Internet > > Genealogy Services. FamilySearch is the copyright > > name of their CD-ROM genealogical indexes. This > > might make you think that these indexes will be > > available at the site, but this is not so. > > > > I know that many people will be disappointed that > > the International Genealogical Index and Ancestry > > File will not be included initially on the site... > > The online site will have the Family History Library > > Catalog. This is not the same as the version at the > > family history centers. It will be considerably > > enhanced. As well as author, title and LDS film > > number, it will include place names, surnames, > > keywords and subjects, all in searchable fields. > > This means that for the first time, researchers will > > be able to use the Family History Library catalog in > > the same way they use online library catalogs > > elsewhere (in public or academic libraries). The > > flexibility of the catalog will mean that we can find > > more books and films, more easily. > > > > The big question for most people who live far from > > Salt Lake (or even far from a branch family history > > center) is: when will the other FamilySearch options > > be included on the website. No decisions have > > been made about this yet. > > > > As I mentioned in my last column, the Genealogical > > Society of Utah, the family history arm of the Church > > of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has now > > begun a publications program selling sets of > > CD-ROMs on particular topics. I mentioned a > > six-disk set of British vital records indexes. Witcher > > informs me there are also sets of Australian Vital > > Records (price US$5.00) and United States Vital > > Records (price US$15.00). At the moment I am > > unsure exactly what is on these. > > > > Other projected series to be made available soon > > are vital records sets for Continental Europe, Latin > > America and Scandinavia, Ellis Island immigration > > records, the 1880 U.S. census and the 1881 British > > census (scheduled for summer 1999). The latter will > > be grouped in regions, but there will also be a > > nation-wide index. > > > > ==== TURNER Mailing List ==== > > Join and support RootsWeb, home of the TURNER list and many other genealogy lists and resources - go to http://www.rootsweb.com/ > > > ==== QUAKER-ROOTS Mailing List ==== > How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe instructions > http://www.rootsweb.com/~quakers/quaker-r.htm > > >