Why FamilySearch Is Ending Microfilm Rental & How to Get Genealogy Records Now
For 80 years, the FamilySearch Family History Library (FHL) has made its enormous stash of microfilmed genealogy records available to researchers through an inexpensive rental service through local FamilySearch Centers. That's about to change: FamilySearch has announced that this service will end Aug. 31. Reasons include declining demand for film, dramatic increases in the costs of reproducing films, and the difficulty of supporting aging microfilm technology. It’s easy to be dismayed by the news, even when you acknowledge it was bound to happen. Many of us have solved family history mysteries with these microfilmed records. Fortunately, most FamilySearch microfilm is already been digitized and posted on the free FamilySearch website or another genealogy site. That's more than 1.5 million rolls, including the most popular ones. “The remaining [eligible] microfilms should be digitized by the end of 2020," according to the announcement. "All new records from its ongoing global efforts are already using digital camera equipment." I've been a grateful user of the film rental program. And the millions of records FamilySearch makes available online for free more than offset offsets this inconvenience to my research. But after Aug. 31 and before 2020, what can we do about accessing records that aren't yet digitized? Try these seven ideas:
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- FamilySearch to Discontinue It's Microfilm Distribution Service, Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, 26 June 2017
- The End of FamilySearch Microfilm Loans: What It Means for You, Amy Johnson Crow, June 27, 2017
- No More Microfilm? Ole Myrt's Take, Dear Myrtle, June 27, 2017