Is membership in the LDS Church required to gain full access to online microfilm
Answers
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@David Stuckey
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David
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Short Answer: 'NO'.
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NO ONE, be they, a Member of the Church or not, will get access to the ALL the "Records" that are in 'FamilySearch'.
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There are MANY "Records" in 'FamilySearch' that are available for ALL to access.
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But ...
That said ...
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There are "Records" in 'FamilySearch' that are "Restricted".
And, there are various "Levels" (and, circumstances) of "Restrictions".
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Members of the Church DO NOT get to access ALL "Records" in 'FamilySearch'.
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So ...
Again ...
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Being a Member of the Church DOES NOT allow one access to ALL the "Records" in 'FamilySearch'.
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Brett
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@David Stuckey
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David
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Furthermore ...
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MOST; but, NOT All, of the "Records" in 'FamilySearch' ARE available to access at the "Family History Library" (FHL) of the Church, in "Temple Square" in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
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MANY; but, certainly not all (and, less than the FHL), of the "Records" in 'FamilySearch' ARE available to access at "Family History Centres" of the Church, all around the World (and, "Affiliate" Libraries, all around the World).
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SOME; and, certainly not all, of the "Records" in 'FamilySearch' are available to access at Home by Users/Patrons of 'FamilySearch', be they, a Member of the Church or not.
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But ...
That said ...
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There are various "Restrictions", to some of the countless, "Records" in 'FamilySearch', that preclude individual User's/Patron's of 'FamilySearch' from getting access to certain "Records" in 'FamilySearch'.
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You are not alone ...
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Brett
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@David Stuckey
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David
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For starters ...
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Here are just some "Knowledge Articles" in 'FamilySearch':
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Why do some indexes have access limitations?
https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/why-are-some-indexes-restricted
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Why are there access restrictions on Historical Records?
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What are the image restrictions in Historical Records?
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Restricted records during COVID-19 outbreak
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Brett
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Latter Day Saints do not get full access to all the records on the FamilySearch website from their home computer- Brett is completely right.
But there are records that are accessible only to Latter Day Saints. If you're a non-Latter Day Saint trying to access those digital microfilms you get the message
- "You may be able to view this image by visiting one of our partners' sites or the legal record custodian (fees may apply)"
There are also records that Latter Day Saints can access from their home computer, but which non-Latter Day Saints can access only from a Family History Center and/or Affiliate Library. Since 2019 non-LDS users are no longer told about these records- the message you get when trying to access the digital microfilm will say how you personally can access the records without any other message.
Here's an example of a discussion where a non-LDS user was looking for records, only to find that they were only accessible on FS by Latter Day Saints. Fortunately, a Family History Library staff member who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints kindly looked up some of these records for him. https://community.familysearch.org/s/question/0D54V00005BQioHSAT/what-is-a-family-book-or-ortsfamilienb%C3%BCcher?language=en_US
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