Access to limited records on patron's own PC at a FamilySearch Center
Hello! I hope you can help me clarify this, and tell me what is right:
This is a question about what a patron who is using his private computer at a FSC, can access when he has installed the FSC Premium extension and is signed in to the Liahona network.
A consultant believes that the browser extension for the FS Portal also includes access to some records/images with limitations on the FamilySearch website, but only for people with member accounts.
The knowledge article How to Use the FamilySearch Center Premium Content Extension is clear about access to the premium websites in the FS Portal, but says nothing about access to limited records/images on FamilySearch.
Therefore I believe that the limited records/images in question, are accessible simply because you are on the Liahona network (whether you have the browser extension or not).
What is right?
Anne-Kathrine
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Yes, the extension is required as well as the other configuration elements for a FSC computer. Here is the link to the knowledge article. FamilySearch center computer setup for access to restricted images • FamilySearch
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Sorry, I did not express myself clearly. I have edited my question to make it clear that it is about patron's private computer. Thank you for being willing to help.
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I got this clarification from an FS tech expert:
"Hello,
the correct information is that the when you are connected to Liahona network AND you have installed the FS premium websites extension to your computer, you have two different access:
1. From Portal you can access free to those websites on the portal page.
2. You have access to some record images which are not vieable from home.
For both of these it does not matter if you use public or member account, both of them work.
Then with member account you have more access to limited images. Some of those you can view at the FSC, but not all. Then there are some images which are not available to member at home, but they are available to everyone at the FSC.
Because members have these extra view rights, members and consultants should never reveal to other users what they can see. The will need to ask other users to check what they can see. That is one major reason, why every FSC visitor need to sign in to FS with their own account also in FSC."
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Anne-Kartherine Henriksen, thank you for being a Service Missionary. We have a number helping me on a special extraction project from a pool of 9 Stakes in our region.
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Just to emphasize what @Anne-Kathrine Henriksen said and add a bit more for others that can use the information. In most any chapel in North America, the Liahona WiFi network is available. Whether or not there is a FamilySearch Center in a particular building, anyone in that building can (with the FSC premium extension installed on their browser) can view what they would otherwise see on a FamilySearch Center computer. Essentially, all chapel buildings can let anyone with a laptop + browser extension see whatever they'd see in a FamilySearch Center.
And as @Anne-Kathrine Henriksen said, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have access to some restricted image records that non-members do not have. That's not a Church decision, but a decision made by the record owners deciding whether their records will be full public access, or restricted access. And Church members should not show such images to non-members because it violates the contract between the Church and the record owners.
As a FSC director, that issue occasionally crops up while in the Center (whether someone is on their own laptop or on the FSC Portal-connected computer. We need to make sure that we honor the contractual agreements that FamilySearch has carefully negotiated with each record owner and now share images that we as members are permitted to view, with someone on a non-member FamilySearch account that they have not been granted access to by the record owners.
Many people don't yet realize that we can turn ANY Church building into a FamilySearch Center by logging into FamilySearch through the Liahona WiFi in that building, and our laptop can see whatever anyone can see on a FSC computer even if the nearest FSC is 100 miles away.
--Chris
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I'm going "guess" the records in question (LDS only) are direct line images of church-based certifications or blessings (i.e. Patriarchal) given that most members of the church do not realize they have access to today.
Is the FamilySearch Premuim site access via Liahona wi-fi churchwide (worldwide) or only US or North America continent-based? Either way, it is a tremendous blessing to have that available now.
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I can't answer the 2nd question about what's available outside the U.S. or North America. However, as to the first "guess," that's not accurate. There are many records that the Church has negotiated limited access for its members when the records belong to outside organizations, and those organizations have decided they don't want the records to be freely available to the public. That's an area FamilySearch and the Church legal folks deal with constantly, sometimes renegotiating contracts or legal agreements. Remember that the Church has gone around the world freely filming records, providing a free copy to the organization owning those records, and then has negotiated who those organizations will allow FamilySearch to show them to. The idea that our Church members get to see Church records that aren't shown to the general public isn't the issue here.
If you write to a U.S. state office to attempt to locate and get a copy of a birth, death, or marriage certificate, for example, there is usually a fee for such documents. Sometimes those fees are an important source of revenue for that organization, thus the incentive to not make them available to the public for free. It's really quite remarkable how much FamilySearch has been able to make available to anyone for free, when FamilySearch does not own the originals of a large amount of the "collection" available on FamilySearch. Sometimes the access is limited by something as basic as an organization's desire to maintain a revenue stream for such access. Certainly, some of the documents I've paid for over the years have cost me much more than the cost of locating, copying, and mailing the record by the organization owning those records!
Beyond that, I think the final statement in the post above is probably the most important: "... it is a tremendous blessing to have that available now." Sometimes people prefer to complain about what we can't have, rather than be grateful for what we do have now that wasn't even possible 20, 10, or even five years ago.
We're currently at a point where there is going to be an increase in what will be available to us as source documents that simply could not be available even five years ago, because of the ability of computers to read hand written documents that would have taken many years to be indexed by human beings. Some of the advances noted in one of the early sessions on Thursday of the most recent RootsTech are truly amazing. I see it as much like having an old Family History Center in a building many years ago, with the only equipment being cabinets full of microfilms and microfiche that we waited weeks to receive after paying a nominal fee for copying and mailing to the Center, and reading them on large, bulky microfilm readers, frame by frame. Note that the plans for upgrading all of the current FamilySearch Centers do not even include microfilm readers anymore! Yet it seemed to be a miracle when the first computers started arriving in Family History Centers and we could simply type in a name and perhaps a date or two along with a place for an event, and we'd wait a short while and suddenly see data on that computer screen. We considered that a miracle, and a huge leap forward in our ability to research.
We are at such a new advancement point today with the new technology becoming available to us. Imagine being able to do full text searches on over 100 million records that have NOT been indexed yet. I strongly suggest watching the following video that briefly explains one of the many new features discussed on that first day of RootsTech:
That's a leap forward that we could hardly imagine just a few years ago. And as stated above, FamilySearch is always attempting to negotiate the greatest access (for everyone, not just Latter-day Saints) to the historical records to which FamilySearch has access, but not ownership. Remember, the restrictions are generally for records the Church/FamilySearch does not own, thus my answer to your "guess" above.
--Chris
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Yes, we have come a long ways from making out the huge family group sheets (only typable on wide carriage typewriters), mailing those in to Salt Lake and then waiting 6 months to get them back with temple work completed. And getting away from the Standardized Genealogical "proper" and "only" way of typing out names in ALL CAPS on 3x5 cards back in the '50's and '60s. I certainly do not miss those days. And yes that AI tech announcement being able to decypher script to text and that also being editable and learnable by AI is a game-changer. Instant gratification only possible from decades of effort.
Chris Shmink, thank you for your insight!
So can anybody chime in on Wi-Fi and FamilySearch Premium sites availability in church buildings (non FamilySearch Centers) outside North America?
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How to use the FamilySearch Center Premium Content extension? states:
This browser feature is available in all church buildings, even those without a FamilySearch Center, on any computer connected to the Liahona WiFi network.
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Yes, they can if they are one the Liahona network.
Anne-K. Henriksen 🙂
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To the original question of someone using their personal laptop in a FSC on the Liahona network and being able to see restricted images: I don't know if this is helpful or not, but recently this situation came up with a youth who was applying for dual citizenship and needed his deceased father's birth certificate which he was able to find as a source attached to his father in family search. However, on his own laptop in the FSC it still appeared that viewing was restricted. When I had him login on the FSC computer and pull it up he could see it and somehow make a screen shot of it (he may have printed it, I don't recall). But I kept coming across this myself and couldn't figure out why I could not see some of the records attached to my people until this happened. So, I think there are some that you must be logged in on a FSC computer to access.
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Heidi, are you certain that the browser extension is both properly installed and functioning while looking at those records on a personal laptop using the Liahona network? From everything I've been told by the senior FamilySearch tech support people in our monthly Zoom meetings with Center directors and tech support specialists, what you see on your laptop when properly connected using the browser extension, and what you see on a dedicated FamilySearch Center computer, should be the same. If that truly is not the case, I'd recommend calling FamilySearch Support (866-406-1830) and choose option #5 in the phone tree menu.
—Chris
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"should be the same" Because exterior computers are not FamilySearch property, they do not have the same rights and privileges and are not "authorized" to see certain images due to legal reasons. Same with certain accounts by certain dedicated Family Search missionaries that are authorized to view images that others are not allowed to view.
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From everything I've heard on Wed. evening Zoom meetings with FamilySearch Support each month, once a person has the FamilySearch browser extension installed on their personal computer, and are logged in through the Liahona WiFi, they will see the same images on their personal computer as they see on a FamilySearch Center computer. What shows up, whether on a Center computer or on a personal computer with the browser extension through Liahona, is determined by the privileged allowed to that particular user, not by which computer it is on. You cite the case of FamilySearch missionaries being authorized to view images that others are not allowed to view, but that is controlled by their log-in credentials (user name and password), not by whether the image is seen on a FamilySearch Center computer. A non-Latter-Day Saint sitting next to a member of the Church, and both viewing separate FamilySearch Center Computers, will see images that they are authorized to view, depending on what the limitations of the images are, not by the fact that a computer is a dedicated FSC computer supplied by FamilySearch vs. a personally owned laptop logged into the Liahona network using the browser extension.
I intend to ask this question once more on Wednesday evening at the FamilySearch Center Chatter Zoom meeting (I'll be attending the Pacific Time Zone meeting due to an earlier conflict here locally). Elder Skinner, senior tech support rep with additional senior duties and accesses, will almost certainly be there hosting the meeting with Sister Pountain, a senior non-tech support missionary. That should clarify it once and for all - and my apologies for understanding the policy incorrectly if I'm wrong in the above.
—Chris
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I just got off the Pacific Time Zone FSC Chatter meeting and received clarification on the above. Elder Richins stated that it does not matter whether someone is logged into FamilySearch, using the FS browser extension, through the Liahona network on a personally owned laptop, or if they're logged on through a FamilySearch Center computer. Both computers will have the same privileges (i.e. same access to viewable records), whether a laptop using Liahona WiFi and the browser extension, or a hard wired FSC computer.
With that said, there are sometimes configuration issues on some personal computers that will cause some issues with privileges on viewing records, with examples being use of a VPN, ad blockers, etc., but that's an issue with the individual computer user's setup, not a FamilySearch access policy. There is otherwise zero difference in access assuming no specific computer configuration issues for the personal PC through Liahona.
All viewing access privileges are entirely dependent on whether the person logging into his or her FamilySearch account is on a Church member FamilySearch account, or is logged in as a non-member. That's the only distinction in access, not which computer is being used.
—Chris
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