"Off Site Storage" of Salt Lake Family History Library Books
I know that about 10 years ago (if not longer) a huge portion of books that were once at main the Family HIstory Library In Salt Lake - were placed in an offsite location referred to in the Catalog as " Off-site Storage ".
Many of these items were books dedicated to specific family surnames. (versus others that were based on genealogy in a specific geographic location -- most of these in this 2nd group still being in physical format at the FHL)
Items in this area of family/surname research have been inaccessible for many years now (if they are not in the public domain due to expiration of copyright).
I believe they were prepared for digital scanning - with the intent that the digital scans would be made available at the library (and only at the library). I get the impression they were actually scanned. But because of changing interpretations of copyright law -- FamilySearch was never able to make these digitally available for access by patrons.
I believe the physical volumes are still out there -- but because of the process of what they went thru for digitization -- could no longer be placed back on the shelf as they were originally.
Does anyone know the status of these "Offsite storage" items. We are potentially talking of literally MILLIONS of physical volumes that are in offsite storage - that were once on the shelves at the FHL - but haven't been for at least the past 10 years and a good majority of them are under copyright - and thus cannot be made available via digital means at this time.
Will the millions of volumes in this "Off-site Storage" be in limbo forever????
here are just a couple examples among the millions of items stuck in limbo:
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@Dennis J Yancey this is standard operating procedure for large libraries and archives. Working from the catalog, request what you want to see by appointment.
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I am not connected with FamilySearch
The page Books, from the Library "website"/website pages says
"If a book in the Catalog is listed as "off-site," you can request for it to be sent to the Library. Please request the book at least 1-2 days before your visit".
https://www.familysearch.org/en/family-history-library/books
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Let me check it out and see if that service actually works
Thanks
the last time i checked various years back no one had a clue of when these items would be available.
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So here is the latest scoop
that offsite retrieval service DOES actually work! 😀
It seems though that what they let you access - is NOT the actual physical book
but rather a digital copy on a flash drive
but in many ways -- that is even better,
Anyone else have experiences with this service??
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Thanks Maureen!
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Oh - I totally agree and understand
that wasn't the point -- the point was that for more than like 5 years or so - if not longer - this off site storage was totally off limits and in sort of a limbo - (not even available on request) because the physical items were not just sitting on some shelf somewhere - they had been physically modified to allow quick digitization and thus why they were never returned to the shelves at FHL - they were not in a condition that returning them to the shelves was even possible, nor even allowing the patron to leaf through them.
which is probably why the physical book is not coming back when you request it now -- but rather a digital copy on Flash Drive
its quite possible - we will never see again the physical volumes we once saw shelved on an entire floor at FHL for millions of volumes. .
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I won't speculate about condition or accessibility of physical books. I will just say that the books are much better off not being handled by library patrons.
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I personally for the most part agree with you (in this day and age when we can have digital) . Though there are some who I think very much would disagree.
but copyright issues come to mind
I dont know how they got around that,
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how do I get a digital copy of a book in off-site storage when I am in Salt Lake doing research soon?
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"If a book in the Catalog is listed as "off-site," you can request for it to be sent to the Library. Please request the book at least 1-2 days before your visit".
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