Dallas Public Library Teams with FamilySearch to Digitize Genealogy Collections

FamilySearch International has recently announced an expansion to their online FamilySearch.org Books Collection. Here is a copy of the announcement:

The Dallas Public Library is working with FamilySearch International, the largest genealogical organization in the world, to digitize the library’s extensive family history book collection. The initiative will expand free online patron access worldwide to the library’s historical records digitized. Search FamilySearch's Historical Book Collections. 

“The Dallas Public Library has a long relationship with FamilySearch through microfilming Dallas County records in the 1990s,” said Dallas Public Library Director Jo Giudice. “We’re excited to take the next step in scanning books with the FamilySearch team.”  

Digitizing this collection will give researchers from around the world unprecedented access to rare and one-of-a kind family histories. Dallas Public Library’s family history book collection is a small part of the library’s genealogy collection, considered one of the largest and most comprehensive collections for family history research in the Southwest. The family history book collection will be scanned by FamilySearch volunteers. It contains more than 16,000 volumes of material donated over a 60-year period. The first records digitized will be rare family history books printed before 1923.  

“Dallas Public Library has been a top 5 genealogy library in the U.S. for many years. Partnering with them on the scanning initiative is going to benefit so many family historians far and wide,” said David E. Rencher, director of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

The Book Collection (Books.FamilySearch.org) presently contains 372,477 digitized books. Some of these books are downloadable. However, some are also restricted to viewing either in a Family History Center or only in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The books must be searched through the books collection, they are not searchable in the Historical Records Collection section of FamilySearch.org. The books may also be found in the FamilySearch.org Catalog. There are links from the books found in the Catalog to the digitized book itself.