Does FamilySearch and their digital scanning of new collections impede our access to records?
For example, here is this film series of Wisconsin marriage records: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/4157859?availability=Family%20History%20Library
As can be seen here, absolutely none of these records are accessible, not even the ones going back to the early 1900s, or even the delayed 1850 ones. Now, if these had been done the old way, they would have been Microfilmed, and those films could have been requested on microfilm for viewing. Now that it's all digital, is it really just in limbo? What's the point of scanning and listing these films if literally nobody can use them, not even FHL lookup volunteers?
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The direct answer to your question is "yes", taking many examples.
I believe as contracts with record custodians have been "revisited" (especially in line with their material being presented in a format in which they were not available before) contract conditions have sometimes been changed, leading to restricted viewing of the now digitised material.
If you are fortunate enough to live near a FHC Library (or Affiliate one, in my case) that still has a large stock of microfilms ( and working microfilm readers, of course!) you will still be able to read a lot of material that is otherwise no longer generally available through FamilySearch. Otherwise, yes, for the reason explained, digitisation (along with renegotiation of contracts) has led to a loss of availability of many records.
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Hello, William, and thank you for posting your question about why some records are restricted here in Community.
FamilySearch would like to grant unimpeded access to all every record we have, but we must abide by the legal agreements we make with owners of records and record collections. The following article will give you a lot of information about how and why this happens.
We hope this has helped you understand why you will occasionally see a restriction on a set of records.
We hope this has answered your question. If not, please respond to this post and we will be happy to assist further.
Merry Christmas!
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The collection you have linked to has the message
This is a preliminary description provided to allow immediate online access. Images have not been reviewed.
The filming date is stated to be 2019. Microfilms were no longer being distributed by then. Also note that lack of a film number on each row: these are "born digital" records and are not on microfilm or stored physically.
This all suggests that FamilySearch is still working on finishing the publication of these records.
The FamilySearch Catalog is currently undergoing maintenance. It's not clear whether this maintenance is making is impossible for access restrictions on records to be changed.
Access restrictions are determined by contracts between FamilySearch and the record owner/custodian. In this case, a government department is the custodian. If it turns out that they are the reason the records are not being published, and you live in Wisconsin, they you could contact the officials in charge of the Departments listed on the Catalog page (especially if they are directly elected) and make your opinions on this issue known to them.
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As A van Helsdingen has stated, the FamilySearch Catalog is currently undergoing maintenance. It has been for an extended period, and has been stated to be currently "locked" until the new Catalog is introduced, I think sometime in 2022.
I am not connected with FamilySearch but I feel it is possible that at least some records from the series above will become available with the new Catalog. Otherwise why include reference to online access in the current description?
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There are some record custodians who use FamilySearch purely as a back-up service: i.e. they don't allow any access to their records.
And going back to the original question: Does FamilySearch and their digital scanning of new collections impede our access to records?
The answer is: only occasionally. The only time the new system is a step backwards is when records are not available at all, or only available to Latter Day Saints. For example, there are plenty of German Protestant records that until 2017 I could have ordered and had sent to my local FHC. But now I can't access them through FamilySearch by any means, unless my local FHC/Affiliate Library gets a copy of those microfilms (incredibly unlikely to ever happen), or I convert.
But in many cases, records are now available from home, making the new system a definite improvement, and in most remaining cases you can access them from a FHC or Affiliate Library, without having to pay for the microfilms to be sent from Utah.
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I would also appreciate a definite answer to the question: Does the "locked" state of the Catalog prevent changes to the access restrictions of records already in the Catalog ?
I know that many of the UK Census records have had their access restrictions tightened, because a contract with the record custodian expired. But would FamilySearch be able to sign a new contract that loosened restrictions (e.g. going from FHC/Affiliate Library only to being accessible from any computer) and have this implemented immediately? Or would this not be implementable until the Catalog maintenance is finished?
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Because this discussion thread is related to searching Historical Records at FamilySearch, I have moved it to the Search category where it might be found by others who are also concerned about how digitization is affecting access to records.
Each person who has responded has shared their personal opinion based upon their experience with restricted records, but the bottom line is that new contacts are negotiated with the actual record custodians as we have digitized their microfilms. These new contracts don't always allow the same level of availability to images that was available with the microfilm format.
All new records that we now process on behalf of record custodians are automatically digitized, and it can take some time before these digital images are made available depending on negotiations which may not yet be completed regarding new records collections.
With privacy concerns that are a problem World-wide, and with many sites where a fee can be collected for viewing records, we will continue to see changes on image availability that is outside of the control of FamilySearch, however, we will continue to provide access to as many records as possible at no cost to our users to help them find their ancestors.
I hope my opinion, which echoes what has already been posted by others, will simply encourage our users to search for their ancestral records even if there is limited availability. Remember, when all else fails, going directly to those who own the records is sometimes the solution to those brick walls we sometimes can't seem to conquer without viewing the actual images.
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The state of Wisconsin has some of the most stringent rules regarding online presentation of vital records. Even if I purchase an image from the state service, their rules state that I may not put that image online.
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@CDBurk, digitization and access to films and fiches has nothing whatsoever to do with searching historical records, because the vast majority of FS's holdings have not been indexed.
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Thank you for your comment, however, working with digitized images, with microfilms and with microfiche through the catalog is located in the Search portion of the FamilySearch site.
That is the reason for moving this discussion which started with a question about information in the FamilySearch catalog. That definitely makes this discussion relative to searching in Historical Records collections through the FamilySearch catalog. Please note that the initial URL provided by the guest who created this post is a URL from the catalog.
So sorry if my post was confusing to you. I hope this explains why this discussion was moved.
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