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> Microfilm data in LDS canyon vaults to go online
> 
> By Carrie A. Moore
> Deseret Morning News 
>       Ever wonder what's inside those secured
> vaults, owned by the LDS Church, positioned high
> inside the granite walls of Little Cottonwood
> Canyon?
>       The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
> Saints is working toward allowing anyone with
> Internet access to learn more than they've ever
> known before about the information contained on 2
> million-plus rolls of microfilm housed there.
> Currently, the church is compiling searchable
> indexes to that information and will eventually make
> it available for free through an automated database
> on the Internet.
>       The church excavated the vaults containing
> those records on property it purchased in the 1960s,
> providing a safe repository during the height of the
> Cold War for birth, marriage, death and census
> information it considers essential for the salvation
> of mankind after death. Now church leaders seek to
> make the information more readily available to the
> world.
>       "The goal is to create (Internet-accessible)
> indexes to all the films we have in the vault.
> That's a long-term process and that's a lot of
> films," according to Paul Nauta, manager of public
> affairs for church's FamilySearch.org Web site.
> "We've not announced when people will begin to start
> seeing" the indexes.
> 
>        Those attending the annual Federation of
> Genealogical Societies' conference this week at the
> Salt Palace will get a "sneak preview" of the      
> church's plans. As the project progresses over time,
> indexes to records from 110 nations previously
> stored on microfilm will become accessible to
> virtually anyone, anywhere, through the Internet via
> the touch of a few keystrokes.
>       "We're showing people how we'll be creating
> indexes from those films. Sometime in the future
> we'll ask people to help us create the indexes and
> make them publicly available, and little by little
> we'll start to index the films from the vault like
> we did with the 1880 (U.S.) Census.
>       "The challenge now is it takes a lot of people
> and a lot of time" to create such an index.
> "Currently, you have to look at images on paper or
> burn them on a CD and distribute those to index the
> data. We're moving the whole process to the Internet
> and this is a prototype of what that might look
> like. . . . That's what the biggest buzz is at the
> conference."
>       Conference attendees are using a lab at the
> Salt Palace equipped with a number of computers to
> demonstrate the new automated database. The
> microfilm information includes birth, marriage,
> death and census records.
>       New advances in indexing software utilities
> and applications mean the LDS Church "now has the
> ability to produce lots of indexes faster," than it
> did with previous databases it has digitized,
> including the 1880 U.S. Census. Making that database
> available online was a 12-year project, using tens
> of thousands of volunteers.
>       In the future, the new technology "will
> provide automated indexing" for an ever-increasing
> number of microfilms "so people can readily search
> it from their homes."
>       As the number of family history researchers
> continues to grow - one study showed 40 percent of
> Americans have done research on their family history
> and another said 90 percent have expressed interest
> - demand for online indexes that simplify searching
> for ancestors has soared, he said.
>       How much time will it take to digitize all the
> films in the vault?
>       "Let's put it this way, it will depend on how
> much volunteer help we get," Nauta said. "I think we
> can digitize the films to be indexed to stay up with
> demand, but much will depend on how many volunteers
> we can generate worldwide to index their records of
> interest. If, in a couple of years, we could get a
> million indexers worldwide, we could put a big dent"
> in the massive undertaking.
>       The indexing demonstration and other planned
> improvements to the popular FamilySearch.org Web
> site are drawing standing-room-only crowds at the
> convention. The changes "will make great strides to
> simplify and increase the success of the family
> history experience," he said.
>       Just when the first indexed information from
> the microfilms will become available online has not
> yet been announced. "We don't want to be swamped
> with people before we're ready to handle it," Nauta
> said.
>       The new developments won't make more than
> 5,000 small family history centers housed in LDS
> chapels worldwide obsolete. Previously, those
> looking for information contained on the microfilms
> stored in the church's Granite Mountain Records
> Vault had to request that copies of information on
> the films be sent to their local center. At some
> point in the future, that likely won't be necessary
> any longer, he said, but "that will continue to be a
> role for a long time.
>       "Family history centers will continue to be a
> mainstay" for accessing information on the
> microfilms for some time to come.
>       As more of those records become digitized and
> indexes become available, the role of the local
> centers, he said, "will probably change. Some people
> have no Internet access, and they'll use them for
> that. The role of the family history centers will
> evolve over time to help people get started" with
> their research because "many people don't know how
> to do that. They will become more fundamental to
> help people get and stay organized, and to answer
> questions they have doing their research."
>       Many of those in town to attend the conference
> are also making use of the church's renowned Family
> History Library, less than a block from the Salt
> Palace. Hours have been extended to accommodate
> guests, with the library open from 8 a.m. to 10:30
> p.m. through Saturday.
>       "It's an exciting time for family history,"
> Nauta said. "Those just developing this kind of
> research as a hobby will never have any appreciation
> for how far this industry has evolved, even in the
> past 10 years." 
> 
> 
>
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