Logging in is on its way
Like any good red-blooded American genealogist, The Legal Genealogist is a big fan of free.
Free records!
Free online services!
Free!
And nobody, but nobody, does free better than FamilySearch.
The mega-database research website FamilySearch.org is — in its own words — “a nonprofit family history organization dedicated to connecting families across generations.”1
Boasting “the largest collection of genealogical and historical records in the world,” and noting that it is a “service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” the website explains:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the primary benefactor for FamilySearch services. Our commitment to helping people connect with their ancestors is rooted in our beliefs—that families are meant to be central to our lives and that family relationships are intended to continue beyond this life.
We hold that all family members—those living, those past, and those future—share an enduring bond that reaches across the generations. To us this means that families are forever, and an important part of acting on this belief is doing family history.
FamilySearch, historically known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, which was founded in 1894, is dedicated to preserving the records of the family of mankind. Our purpose is simple—help people connect with their ancestors through easy access to historical records.
We gladly join and partner with others who share this vision. We pioneered industry standards for gathering, imaging, indexing, and preserving records. Advances in technology and the emergence of our digital world now provide an opportunity for us to share these resources with the world.2
And it does it all — free.
So many of the records I use every day to write this blog — including many Tennessee records that I’ll be using tomorrow in talks to the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society — come to me, free, from FamilySearch.
And now, it’s asking us to do one little thing to make its job of providing us with this free records access a little easier.
It’s asking us to sign in.
Cue in the screams and the hollers and the “but we’ve never had to do this before” wails.
Yeah.
I know.
Genealogists may like free, but we also hate it when things change.
And yeah, I know, this is a bit of an inconvenience.
Certainly no more of one than when we sign in on all those sites that we pay for, of course, and I did mention that word “free,” didn’t I?
And here’s where I do the “yeah I have a law degree” thing and tell you to trust me.
You really can trust me on this one: it’s a very very very small inconvenience. With a very very very big pay-off.
Really.
Creating an account on FamilySearch is easy and — yes — free.
You don’t need to give the website a ton of personal information to get the account. Name, username, a password you select, an email address or phone number in case you lose your password and need to get back into your account, a little bit of demographic data (male or female, country of residence, birthdate and whether you’re a Church member, since Church members have different needs from the website than heathens like me), a security captcha code to make sure you’re not a robot and your agreement to the terms and conditions and privacy policies of the website, and you’re in.
If you’re worried about privacy, don’t be. FamilySearch offers a rock solid guarantee that it won’t use your information for anything other than giving you access to the website, unless you specifically and personally authorize it. Nobody’s going to sell your info to a third party; nobody’s going to come knocking on your door.
So… why the account and why log in?
There are two basic forces driving this.
First and foremost, FamilySearch is moving from a microfilm world to a digital world. It told us about that months ago.3 Instead of ordering a roll of microfilm from the Family History Library, waiting for it to arrive at a Family History Center or affiliate library, and then accessing it on often outdated equipment, we’re now going to be accessing more and more records digitally — and more and more of them without ever leaving our homes and our own computers.
But to be able to present many of those records to us with that kind of ease, FamilySearch needs to be accountable to its records partners — the towns and counties and states and their agencies that made the records available for filming in the first place. Many of those records partners want to know that the data is being offered in a safe and secure online environment.
The second reason is because there’s more that can be made available on a personalized basis if you use some of the other features of the website and log in first: “This authentication can deliver rich, personalized discovery, collaboration, and help experiences. Simply put, signed-in visitors can access more searchable content and enjoy more personalized services.”4
Now from my standpoint, getting access to more records is the big pay-off: anything that lets me see that set of Tennessee death records at 3 a.m. in my bunny slippers sitting at home at my own computer is fine by me. For someone else, it may be a more personalized entry to the Family Tree or some of the mobile apps or dynamic help.
But for all of us, the two-minute process of creating an account (if you’re slow) and the additional nanosecond it takes to sign in (yes, you can save your username and password) is a small price to pay for what we can’t get anywhere else.
And oh …
Did I mention free?
Yeah. That too.
All for the “price” of signing in.
SOURCES
- “About FamilySearch,” FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Nov 2017). ↩
- Ibid. ↩
- See Judy G. Russell, “The end of microfilm,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 29 June 2017 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 16 Nov 2017). ↩
- “FamilySearch Free Sign-in Offers Greater Subscriber Experiences and Benefits,” FamilySearch blog, posted 16 Nov 2017 (https://www.familysearch.org/blog/ : accessed 16 Nov 2017). ↩
Did you know it was free, Judy? Well, of course you did. And the other facilities available for us with a simple login are excellent resources. Thanks, Judy!
It’s free, George? Really? What a surprise…
By signing in you have access to more images and info than you did before having to sign in.
Although it is free and a great site, there maybe links to partnership sites that do require subscriptions to see. But still way worth it specially if you know how to get to some of the images that are not indexed yet.
They do link to some subscription services like Fold3, yes.
And Ancestry, Newspapers too. How do you stay signed in. It just says 2 weeks and often that doesn’t work.
Asking them is the way to go…
I’ve been logging in to familysearch.org for a long time – and didn’t even realize that wasn’t a requirement until now. And yes, so grateful to the Church of Latter Day Saints for its bountiful gift to us, no matter what our beliefs.
It is required for some records but not for all. Now it’ll be required for all.
I’ve had an account with them for years. It really isn’t an inconvenience at all. We have to sign in to all those places that charge us money. I can’t imagine why anyone would complain. Plus they have now made my public library an affiliate library which means I can access all those records that have the little camera with key icon located beside them. I am a happy camper!
Looking forward to the seminar tomorrow in TN. My first one!
Great! Come up and introduce yourself when you have a chance!
If one has already signed up and has a free account, does one have to repeat the process as you described? In other words, is this new info different from what we did in the past to obtain a free account?
Nope, if you already have an account, you’re good to go. This will only affect people who’ve never bothered registering with the website.
I always sign in, because if I don’t, I can’t see the images.
But now I’m puzzled, because even when I do sign in, I receive a message that I must sign in. Confusing…
There will be some glitches as FamilySearch transitions to the new system, but eventually I’m sure it will all even out.
I have always been required to sign in every two weeks for the last 8 years, so I was quite surprised with your blog entry today. Is this only a change for LDS members? I am not one.
Some things could be accessed even if you didn’t sign in. The only thing that’s changing is that now everything will require the sign-in. Not a big deal at all.
Thanks for writing this post, Judy, so I can now cross it off my to-do list! As always excellent and, yes, the accounts & record access are FREE. One aspect overlooked is that although the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the major benefactor, the actual donantions are received from its world-wide membership in the form of tithes & offerings and that “heathens” like you, lol—NOT, can donate specifically to assist in acquisition of records, etc., at https://ldsp-pay.ldschurch.org/donations/familysearch.html?cde1=474. Also, let’s not forget the many uncompensated individuals who donate time & expertise to make it all possible.
And those who may not be able to contribute in money can contribute in time. Indexing is always a major need, and anybody can do that — even from home, in bunny slippers!
Well said! Can’t believe the negative remarks about a simple thing like logging in. We do it all the time to index or to see certain images. No big deal!
My thought to the negative people is why waste time moaning about it when you could be using that time researching.
How well said
It’s interesting…I always sign in and love the free access!
FamilySearch has certain collections that can only be accessed from a Family History Center computer. Does this mean they’ll be available from anywhere, once you’re logged in?
Not necessarily, I’m afraid. Here’s the problem: some of the original data providers have to consent to making their records available online, and some of them are insisting that access only be onsite. Those records will still have to be accessed at a Family History Center or the Family History Library in Salt Lake (or, in many cases, at an affiliate library like the Allen County Public Library in Indiana). But many other original data providers are consenting to making their records available online if the log-in system is required rather than optional. So this is going to be an “it depends” situation — but it’s clear that more and more providers will agree over time, and that means more and more of these collections will be accessible from home.
Is this different than the login that already exists? I’ve had a login on FamilySearch for a long time. It does prompt me to login from time to time. It withholds records until I login.
Since I’ve been logging in for awhile, I guess I don’t see what the problem is.
Nope, no difference at all, except for those who don’t currently have accounts or don’t currently log in all the time. It’s really truly no big deal. And there is that “free” part to keep in mind for those who might think it’s any kind of big deal.
Has anyone else reported issues with accessing familysearch records since they rolled out this login step? A large number of collections that I had previously been able to view are now marked as “only visible to LDS members/from a family history centre”. I think it is fine to make people sign up, but wondering if these changes are linked/permanent!
They certainly are pulling back a fair number of records right now while they work out contract issues, but there’s no reason to think these will be permanent rollbacks.
Thank you for sharing this great perspective. Signing is a small “price to pay” for such a vast amount of records. And…I like your perspective on why the sign-in is required. Thanks again!
This is wonderful!!