Longview Texas Family History Center
I am the Temple & Family History Leader for the Tyler Texas Stake Family History Center. We have patrons coming here from as far away as Longview and Kilgore Texas. They are driving 45 - 60 minutes to get here to use this facility. I have been told that there was a Family History Center in Longview but it has been closed. I am trying to find out what needs to be done to reopen that center and get it up and running. Some days we don't have enough computers to handle the number of patrons that want to do research or indexing. Please advise.
Answers
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Hello John
I am based in the UK so can only express the values I know here for our Family History Centres and share with you the general values I have known with my own Family History Centre.
- The Stake President has to decide that it is safe to open the Centre based on your local pandemic status.
- The Centre staff will need to "re-image" any Windows 7 machines if they are eligible for upgrading.
- Computers which cannot be re-imaged need to be removed by Facilities Management.
- All computers will need to be "updated" with Windows Updates until current in this context.
- All computers will have to be configured with the Chrome Portal Extension, in Administrator and Patron.
- The Browsers in use will need to be updated to the latest version.
- All computers will need to cleared of temporary files.
- All computer drives will need to be optimised.
The above tasks are essential and preparatory to opening your Centre to members and the public.
I know in the UK, if a Centre has many visitors, this is a good basis on which to apply for more computers, to provide a more practical base of operation. You could speak to Facilities Management about this.
I recommend you run your Centre by appointment and not on a drop in basis.
Be successful! Cheerio for now.
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I am not connected with FamilySearch
Perhaps the Centre which closed did so because it could not be adequately staffed, or because the premises became unavailable. If so, perhaps there is not much you can do about getting it reopened.
Years ago, in the days before digitised microfilm, I spent many hours at a Centre looking at actual microfilm. The Centre staff were very knowledgeable and helpful, and there were always enough staff there. The Centre was usually fairly full, as the Centre specialised in certain areas of research, and people sometimes travelled long distances to get there. Sadly I heard a few years ago, pre Covid, the Centre had closed because of lack of staff.
Although this Centre had set opening times, you were certainly encouraged to book the equipment in advance, and not go unless you had a booking. In those days it was mainly booking microfilm and microfiche readers. From memory, the hours were roughly 10am to 3pm, and you could book a morning or an afternoon sessions (of 2 and a half hours), but if you were travelling a long way to get there, you could make a double booking for the entire day.
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This article explains how to request a new FHC, I hope this answers your question..
Relocate, upgrade, or create a new family history center • FamilySearch
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@genbug08 The HelpCenter article you have quoted has an email address contact Support@FamilySearch.org.which I believe is not longer in existence. Perhaps you could provide an alternative contact, and if you are connected with Family Search arrange for the update of the Help Center article.
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Contact details for the Asia Pacific or APAC FamilySearch Support region can be found here:
For the NA Region you can email: na_support@familysearch.org
For the EU Region you can email: eu_support@familysearch.org
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That email address is very much alive and is monitored by several individuals. However, you can always call for Family History Center Support by calling 1-866-406-1830 then after choosing option 1 for the English language you would choose option 5 for Family History Center Support.
Looking at your Longview Texas center information the center is still open and has one Lexmark 611 Multifunction Printer and 4 Dell 9030 and 2 Dell 7480 computers the Stake Temple and Family History Consultant-Family History Center is Sister Nope who was called August 2021. So, the center may have different hours than published but is very much open and operating. They were open 25 hours in February with over forty visitors.
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