My question about FamilySearch Centers
I have seen very small FS Centers in some LDS buildings. Are you required to schedule an appointment for visiting the center and how?
Best Answer
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@William Hawkins LDS Most centers do not required appointments but some will make arrangements outside of the advertised hours and days of operation if you contact them.
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Answers
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My experience in the past was that functioning Centers could generally be contacted though the details found in
, although perhaps the contact phone number may have been valid only when the Center was open,
but that there a number of Centers which should have been deleted from the list as they were no longer active.
If you have visited a LDS building and seen a Center, is there no LDS person present you could ask?
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First suggestion - if the center has listed opening hours/days on the website, try calling during those hours. Often there is no voice mail or answering machine, and the phone will only be answered if the center is open.
Some centers are open by appointment only; some have set hours most weeks. Bad weather and holidays - unlikely to be open.
Check the status of any records you want to view. Many can be viewed at affiliate libraries which are generally public library systems with much longer open hours, almost daily.
If you are interested in specific records, give us some details, and we may be able to suggest another way to view or even retrieve for you. I visit my local affiliate every week and my local FSC at least once per month.
Best of luck with the search.
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I knocked on the door at the stake center. No answer.
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Plus with that, there were no hours listed on Google Maps. Only the phone number, website and address. I didn't even know if it open or not. Other centers have hours but this one does not.
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Did the link @MaureenE123 provided not list the center? That would be more reliable than Google Maps.
Our small but v helpful local Center advertises itself via a sandwich board outside the building when it's open, I don't know whether this is standard practice.
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Everytime I'm about to pass the street where the building is I decide to visit the stake but the parking lot is completely empty. Doors are locked and no lights on. I call the stake offices and see if they have hours or anything about the center. Nothing. I call the FamilySearch center but the phone I heard was in the office. No awnser.I visited the building again and called outside the enterence where the hallway is that has the office. My phone just has a dialing tone and all i can hear inside the building is a faint sound of a phone ringing coming from the office. I have to send the office a wad of voicemails. I REALLY want to visit the center but I just can't seem to schedule an appointment with the office. I only visit or call 2 times a week cause I'm busy on other days. The staff I heard opens the center during events including stake conferences so I was at stake conference and knocked on the door. NO AWNSER. I don't know if I can even visit this center.
CENTER ADDRESS:
FamilySearch Center
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - Day Saints | Council Bluffs Iowa Stake
2303 Butler Street, Council Bluffs, IA0 -
Omaha Public Library appears from Maureen's link to be 10 miles away, and to be an Affiliate, so would that be a better option? Also, have you tried the church's main 'phone number, or the Center email given on Maureen's link? I communicate with our local Center exclusively by email.
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There typically is an email listed on the FSC locations. I'll try sending them an email.
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@William Hawkins LDS We'll look into this and get back to you with what we find out.
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@William Hawkins LDS My wife was the director of the Council Bluffs Iowa FHC for about 12 years. Since we left the stake, we have heard that the center has been moved into a very small clerk's office in the stake center, and reduced to two computers. We know the lady who is managing it now, but I doubt it is open for regular hours, since the locations page for it does not list any hours. I don't know where the phone that is connected to that phone number is now, either.
https://locations.familysearch.org/en/us/ia/council-bluffs/2303-butler-st
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@William Hawkins LDS The FamilySearch Center in the Council Bluffs Iowa stake center was closed several years ago. The phone and email address are no longer attended by a director or staff. You should go to the FSC in Omaha or Papillion Nebraska, or one of several affiliate centers in your area.
Dana Repouille
FamilySearch Center Coordinator
Omaha Nebraska Papillion Stake1 -
@Dana Repouille The center was ACTUALLY CLOSED?!
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@William Hawkins LDS Many centers have closed. The one in Muskegon MI had been closed for 10 years before I finally got someone to change the center finder website.
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I should just visit an affiliate like a library or somethin'.
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@Dana Repouille You said you know the lady who runs the center?! If you know her name could you specify the name, I can pull her up in the stake directory and call her. That might help.
Dana Repoulle:
@William Hawkins LDS My wife was the director of the Council Bluffs Iowa FHC for about 12 years. Since we left the stake, we have heard that the center has been moved into a very small clerk's office in the stake center, and reduced to two computers. We know the lady who is managing it now,
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@William Hawkins LDS it's clear that the Center you wanted to use is no longer an option but that there are multiple local Centers and also local affiliates, so you will need to use one of those instead. My local Center is a train ride away, and someone in Texas posted recently saying their nearest option was 3 hours away.
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If you have access to the Council Bluffs Iowa stake directory, then you should be able to contact your ward temple and family history consultant for more information. Failing that, you can contact your elders quorum presidency.
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@William Hawkings LDS
You can always call the familysearch support line, open 8am-8pm Mountain Time zone 866-406-1830
Also your ward directory in Tools should give you the current Temple & Family History Consultants contact info. Ask them if the FS center is open or active. They should surely know. But it is true that many FS ctrs have closed or have very limited hours.
You can find the location of familysearch affliate centers in Public libraries by looking on FS Help & Learning-FamilySearch Centrs/ Look for the circle with ? near your profile name/photo when you are signed in to FS.
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@Pat Lowe
Thank you very much!
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