FamilySearch center — Attraction in Salt Lake City

Remember to take a thumb drive with you to the Family History Library because a great deal of the information there isn't online and / or can't be posted online due to usage agreements with the source owners.

Add your name or a unique identifier on the outside of your thumb drive because many library patrons forget that they've left their drive plugged into a library computer. The collection of lost drives can be huge in the lost and found. Most of us won't remember an exact description of our drive to aid in its recovery. Experienced researchers usually have a text file on their drive(s) labeled "Owner Information" or a similar name that contains their contact info.

WiFi is available to patrons of the library but image file sizes and numerous other issues are resolved via a thumb drive.

Take a research plan with you to maximize your chances of research success. You may want to visit the FamilySearch Catalog at home prior to the trip and identify the books and films you want to view while in the library. Many seasoned researchers print the catalog page at home and write notes on the reverse side in the library, thus their notes are sourced automatically and can be scanned later for digital preservation. The information you discover may or may not fit on a piece of paper and it may or may not be worth the time to write on the paper, but a short note on it will create a memory entry that helps you decipher the quick notes and thoughts that you left for your future self.

Lastly, take $$ change with you for use in the vending machines in the break room that is located in the northeast corner of the main floor. Most folks think that they will leave the building for lunch, yet when they start finding information, they rarely want to leave their research table or desk for longer than a few minutes. It's easy to discover that your time in the library is too valuable to be wasted in such a 'mundane...

I’m a genealogist: visiting this famous genealogy center sits on the top of my to do list during this trip. ... and I found my great grandfather! I've heard that they've acquired (or bought) many Chinese family trees from China.

Impressed by the size of the library and massive staff, but stunned at their software: it's fatal that it can't handle non-English characters, given that they collect family trees around the world. For Chinese, it's imperative to be able to display Chinese characters because pinyin is inadequate: one of the family, two children's names have identical pinyin spelling (of course, their names have different characters).

An old genealogy program, PGV, which was developed by a group of volunteers, handles foreign characters (non-26-alphabet) smoothly. I've been using it.

They offer free printing on heavy, glossy paper, which looks great. However, I'd rather have them improve the software program to serve a broader range of languages, which is more meaningful.

The Log Home is...

I wandered in here as I was walking by and I’m so glad I did! A nice lady immediately came over and greeted me and helped me to set up my family tree. She helped me complete some research and learn more than I ever knew about my ancestors. Once we came to a good stopping place, she printed out a free, large format poster of my family tree.

They also have some interactive sections throughout which are fascinating. You can see which famous people you’re related to – for me, it was people like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Mark Twain, etc.

Their iPad implementation is pretty slick. You sign in on an iPad and walk around to the different exhibits. Each has a bit touchscreen monitor. You snap the iPad into it and it instantly pulls up your info.

Overall, this is a must-visit for...