Many of our FHC patrons are wondering if, during the current shutdown of all FHC's, FamilySearch mig
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We were directing our people to the 7-branch FamilySearch Affiliate Library system here in our area - until they closed also. Affiliate Libraries, for future reference, can access about 90% of the restricted images if I understood correctly.
However, the Church isn't the decision-maker on the viewing issue. If it was up to the Church, 100% of the images would be viewable by anyone. The owners/holders of those images have control over who sees them. Many have at least allowed FS Affiliate Libraries to also make them available, but some simply won't allow that (often simply because they want their $20 per image additional revenue in states, counties, etc.). So the likelihood that FamilySearch would go through the hassle of trying to get each of those record holders (often entire states) to change their policy temporarily would seem counter-productive in terms of time and effort, when this major inconvenience is resolved in 2-3 months (or less).
Remember though, that at least the indexed portion of those records is generally still available and can be added as a source. But yes, I'm recommending to our FHC patrons that have asked, that they make a list and then come back to the FHC once we re-open. Hopefully that list won't be uncomfortably long for any one person. But personally, I can't wait to see the hoped-for surge in FHC usage when this is over! 😁
NOTE: Please remember that even when we've got access through the FHC again, there are still restrictions in use of those images. Study copyright and use restrictions carefully before putting them anywhere. This is not a legal opinion, just personal understanding (and very much open for correction by anyone that knows for certain) - those images are available for research purposes, not for posting where others can then also see them publicly. That would wire around the requirements of the document holders themselves (even if they are stingy), and could end up hurting the Church's access to records in the future. The recent free RootsTech class on "2019 - The Year of the Copyright" was packed with excellent caution as well as explanation of copyright (don't be fooled by the class title - it was presented at the February 2020 RootsTech).
-- Chris
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Thanks Chris for such an informative answer. I'll forward this onto my consultants and continue making their list. That's a good point to bring up again about copyright rules. Thanks again from Canada.
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@E Clapp
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Elizabeth
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The request to lift the "Restrictions" on the viewing of Records due to the worldwide situation with the COVD-19 Virus has been requested a number of time in the "FamilySearch" ("GetStaisfaction") 'Feedback' Forum alone.
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Here is a response, in a post, in that Forum, from an "Official 'FamilySearch' Representative" on the matter:
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Relaxing Restricted Access due to FHC closures
https://getsatisfaction.com/familysearch/topics/relaxing-restricted-access-due-to-fhc-closures
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FamilySearch Moderator (Moderator) 1 day ago
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Thank you for your inquiry and suggestion. We have had several requests in this regard as a result of the temporary closing of our Family History Library and family history centers due to COVID-19 precautions. Due to contractual obligations, we unfortunately cannot offer expanded external access to records restricted to family history centers and affiliate libraries. We apologize for this inconvenience.
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In the meantime, we encourage you to explore the vast record collections that are available on FamilySearch. Millions of new indexed records and images are added weekly. And if you haven’t used our new Explore Historical Images tools, you might be surprised at the potential discoveries you can make in our growing unindexed image collections.
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We appreciate your patience, loyalty, and support,
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FamilySearch Support
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You can pass that onto the Users/Patrons of the "Family History Centre".
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I hope this helps.
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Brett
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David Rencher, Chief Genealogical Officer of FamilySearch, answered this exact question in a recent Facebook post. Here is what he wrote: We would need to ask thousands of record custodians to make an exception and then enabling the exception, going back and undoing it when the crisis is over is a lot to manage. Each record set has multiple DGS numbers and each number must be activated for closed or open access. We’re talking thousands of contracts and many more DGS numbers. We’re dealing with billions of images in a massive database. And...just to be clear, none of our staff, including me, have access from home either.
it’s a far more complex issue than I can explain in a Facebook post. I appreciate the thoughts but what I haven’t gone into are all of the legal ramifications of exposing the unlocked images to scraping of the site and a host of other issues. No one would like to be able to do this more than us. If we can find a way I’m sure it will get serious consideration. The staff has moved to a distributed workforce model and is still in full production to publish additional content.
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You could suggest putting the long list in the to-do section on their family search account so when they went to the library they could just access their list from there.
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@Cindy Blevins What a great idea! Somehow I've visually skipped over that section on my FS page, and wasn't aware of it until your post. I passed it along to my high councilor just now for possible inclusion in his April newsletter (he's a former Area T&FH Consultant just recently released after 8 years, and he enjoys continuing to send the newsletter out to all the previous recipients - and they appreciate it).
-- Chris
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All
Here is the actual 'Link' from an "Official 'FamilySearch' Representative", on the matter of Requests for access to records during temporary closings, that 'joemartel' was trying to post:
Brett
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