Can I get Microfilms?

Mary_Dem

I am wondering if its still possible to get microfilms during COVID, and if so, what are the ways I can acquire them?

MaureenE123

If you are talking about actual microfilms, only a few libraries now have microfilms, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, which is currently closed.

If you are referring to digitised microfilms, some of these are available for viewing on your home computer, but some may only be viewed at a Family Search Family History Centre or FamilySearch Affiliate Library, You will need to look in the FamilySearch Catalog to see the viewing access for the microfilms you are interested in. Depending where you live your local FS Family History Centres and Affiliate Libraries may be closed due to Covid restrictions, but decisions are made locally. Some are open.

Perhaps you will need to wait until Covid restrictions are lifted.

Mary_Dem

Thank you for the reply. What I am wanting says;

Location: FHL,

Collection: British B1 Floor,

Film: 857691,

DGS: 8079207,

Format: (reel image).

Are “DGS” digital copies that can be accessed at a local FHC? Ours has been closed for over a year due to COVID,

MaureenE123

Unfortunately the record you are interested in, although the microfilm has been digitised, for some reason FamilySearch does not have permission to show the digitised record and the record is restricted to being shown only as a microfilm. The catalog entry for "General Valuation revision lists, Castlebar Union (Mayo), 1858-1947" https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/153223 only lists the Family History Library, Salt Lake City as having this microfilm, and currently this Library is closed.

It is no longer possible to order in a microfilm at a FamilySearch Centre near you, so it looks like FamilySearch cannot assist you with this record.

The following link from the National Archives of Ireland has a Search link for printed valuations, but I'm not sure whether they are the same records you were looking for. https://www.nationalarchives.ie/article/valuation-office-records/

A van Helsdingen

A DGS number means the microfilm has been digitized. But as Maureen says, the microfilm symbol means the records are not available digitally.

This probably means one of two things. Firstly, that the records are available online somewhere on a subscription website like Ancestry.com or FindMyPast. The second is that FamilySearch and the record owner have not yet, since the ending of physical microfilm distribution, met to negotiate an agreement to make the records digitally available. If you can work out who the record owner is- probably an archive or local government unit, you could contact them and suggest that they make contact with FS to discuss this issue.