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The current FamilySearch microfilm issue has apparently engendered a sub-topic concern about the "restricted" records on the FamilySearch.org website. As more people view the records on FamilySearch and as more records are added to the website regularly, more people are encountering notices from FamilySearch indicating that the records are restricted in some way. The restricted records fall into three distinct categories:
- Records that are only available for review at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, i.e. when the researcher is physically present in the Library.
- Records that are only available for review when the researcher is in a Family History Center and using a computer connected to the Family History Center Portal.
- The very small category of records that are only available to researchers who have certain qualifications, i.e. members in good standing of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is important to understand that these "restrictions" do not come from FamilySearch. The restrictions arise as a result of the following concerns:
- Privacy concerns
- Restrictions imposed by the custodians or originators of the documents when they were obtained by FamilySearch
- Changes in the laws in the country where the records originated
- Limitations imposed by the contract role arrangements providing for the use of the records by FamilySearch
- Copyright restrictions
There may be additional reasons why certain records are not available online at all. It is entirely possible that the restrictions imposed by those who originally supplied the records can change over time. As a matter of fact, when FamilySearch and its predecessors began acquiring microfilm records back in 1938, many of the countries in the world today did not exist and many of the countries that existed back in 1938 do not exist today.
I have heard complaints from a very small minority of the users of the FamilySearch.org website who complain that "all the records" are restricted. In fact, very few of the records are actually restricted even including those restricted to viewing within Family History Centers. Over time, some of these restricted records may become more freely available. However, the opposite can also occur; the original suppliers of the records may choose to have them removed from circulation. This occurs entirely independently of any of the issues involving microfilm.
If you take a moment to think about the situation, you will realize that the discontinuance of the shipment of microfilm has nothing to do with the restriction issue. Of the three types of restrictions listed above, each of the restrictions applies to microfilm and are only more evident now because of digitization. There have always been records that were restricted to viewing in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. As for the microfilm, use of microfilm was always restricted to Family History Centers. The only thing that has changed is the fact that many more documents are now freely available online without restrictions than ever before.
To repeat, records with restrictions are not the fault of FamilySearch.
When the digital image is available in the catalog but not really, how can you tell where you can view it from ? FH Library, FH Center or join the church?
ReplyDeleteWhen you try to view the restricted record there is a pop-up message telling you where the image can be viewed. There are only an extremely small number of records that are restricted to those who are members. You are very unlikely to run into any of those type of records in the catalog.
DeleteSadly, an entire town I am researching is restricted to church members only.
ReplyDeleteI'm searching Italian town records and virtually all are restricted to access at Family History Centres. My local Centres are only open a few hours a week and, even then, some of them advertise opening hours of say 10 to 3 but shorten the hours at the whim of the volunteer running the sessions or, annoyingly, arrive very late so half the time has gone!
ReplyDeleteDear Unknown,
DeleteYou could volunteer to work at the FHC and then you could have all the time you need. Enough said.
"Netherlands Passenger Lists Holland-America Line, 1900-1974"
ReplyDeletehttps://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1916283
Would love to be able to access this, but I am not a LDS church member.
You do not have to be a Church member, you and all others must view this record in a local Family History Center.
DeleteMany German Protestant church records are restricted to members of the Church of Jesus Christ only. I contacted the archive of the Protestant Church in the province Hessen about alternative ways to access these records, and one of the archivists told me that their archive had never given permission for those records to be online on FS or for there to be different access levels based on LDS membership. I no longer trust FS when they say that access restrictions based on religion were at the request of record custodians.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you trust the record custodians?
DeleteThey negotiated the access conditions to their own records and should know what they are. FS, with thousands of such contracts, could get confused between different contracts, or may break them hoping no-one will notice.
DeleteAlso record access and the requirements of the archives and other repositories change over time and FamilySearch contracts go back as far as 1938. If you have a specific issue with a collection, I suggest contacting FamilySearch.
Delete