MyHeritage Establishes New SLIG Scholarship

We are pleased to announce the formation of the Chris Darrington Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Scholarship. Established by MyHeritage, this scholarship honors the memory of the late Chris Darrington (1983-2020). 

Chris was the MyHeritage Conference Events Manager, where he managed the exhibit booth, gave demos, and provided assistance to users at genealogy conferences across the United States. A long-standing MyHeritage employee, he previously worked with the Utah-based Sales team and was one of their top-rated salespeople for six years. 

As the representative responsible for coordinating MyHeritage's annual sponsorship of the SLIG Shuttle, Chris always went the extra mile—visiting SLIG, creating a rapport with the SLIG committee and faculty, and demonstrating an interest in the program overall.

Chris always assisted people with great patience, kindness, and humor, and had a natural rapport with genealogy enthusiasts who appreciated his genuine passion for family history. 

Following Chris’s example, applicants should have a genuine passion for family history, a strong desire to improve their research skills through quality education, and an enthusiasm for serving the genealogical community.

Applicants are required to submit a short essay addressing the above qualifications, along with a letter of recommendation. A committee will review applications at MyHeritage; the winning candidate will be provided full tuition and a guaranteed seat in the SLIG course of their choice. 

SLIG would like to specifically thank Daniel Horowitz, Genealogy Expert at MyHeritage, for his leadership in creating this scholarship and his ongoing support of SLIG and higher education for genealogists in general.

Applications open on February 15, 2022, and are due no later than May 1, 2022. Full details can be found here: https://slig.ugagenealogy.org/cpage.php?pt=620. 

SLIG Announces New Director

We are pleased to announce that Amberly Beck will take the reins as the new director of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), effective February 1, 2022.

Amberly joined the SLIG committee in January 2021 to fill a short-term assignment, and quickly won the hearts of students and faculty alike with her efficient management of the tasks at hand and polished demeanor. When the Assistant to the Director position came open, she was a natural fit. 

The appointment to director was made in October by Kelly Summers, then-president of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA), and ratified by the UGA Board of Directors, preparatory to the retirement of Peg A. Ivanyo, who has served in that position for the past seven years.

Amberly is a professional genealogist, speaker, and blogger. Her love for genealogy began as a child pouring over family photos with her grandmother and became a serious research endeavor over 20 years ago. She specializes in French research, is partway through her accreditation journey with ICAPGen, and is working on her BCG portfolio.

Amberly is the mother of three incredible boys, holds a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, and lives in Utah with her family.

Speaking of her appointment, Amberly said: “I am honored and humbled by the trust Peg and UGA have placed in me to serve SLIG as the next director. SLIG is a vital part of the genealogy community and I look forward to building on the legacy created by Peg, and all of those who came before her.” 

We feel confident that SLIG’s future is in good hands. Welcome, Amberly!

SLIG Announces Upcoming Courses

One of our favorite parts of the banquet at SLIG – or in this care, the virtual wrap-up event – is the "Great Course Reveal." As always, we offer some favorites and introduce some surprises.

SLIG is pleased to announce the following program dates, formats, courses, and coordinators for the upcoming program year – fall 2022 through spring 2023. 

SLIG Virtual

September 8 - November 17, 2022

Entering its seventh year, SLIG Virtual was explicitly designed to give students time to dig deep into their studies throughout the week between sessions from the comfort of home and on their own schedule. Courses include a full SLIG curriculum with over twenty-five hours of instruction, delivered via Zoom for several hours each week. This program begins with an all-participant orientation on September 8th. 

• Intermediate Foundations; coordinated by Annette Lyttle, MA
• Proving Your Pedigree with DNA; Karen Stanbary, MA, LCSW, CG
• Advanced Techniques for Mastering Online Searches and Uncovering Digital Records; D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS, FUGA
• Advanced Hispanic Research; Debbie Gurtler, AG
• Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum; Angela Packer McGhie, CG, FUGA

Preliminary descriptions are available at SLIGVirtual.ugagenealogy.org. Full details and weekly outlines will be published in April. Registration opens May 14, 2022, at 12:00 noon MDT.

SLIG 2023

January 22 - 27, 2023 (Virtual this Year!)

SLIG previously announced that SLIG will be held virtually one more year to ensure the safety of our participants during the ongoing pandemic. So, grab your slippers and join us for a whole week of virtual education. You may choose from the following:

• Behind the Scenes at FamilySearch: Technology and Features; coordinated by David E. Rencher, AG, CG, FUGA, FIGRS
• Bridging the Gap: New England to the Midwestern, 1780-1850; D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS
• Advanced Techniques: Material Culture Research Techniques for Genealogy; Gena Philibert-Ortega, MA, MAR
• Metes & Bounds Land Platting; Gerald H. Smith, CG
• Corpus Juris: Advanced Legal Concepts for Genealogy; Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL
• Advanced Research Techniques for German Genealogy; Michael D. Lacopo, DVM
• Capital Kin: Researching Ancestors Who Lived in Washington, D.C; Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL
• African American Genealogy Methods and Strategies; LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG, CGL, FASG
• Virginia from the Colonial Period to the Civil War: Her Record, Her People, Her Laws; Barbara Vines Little, CG, FVGS, FNGS, FUGA
• Introduction to Genetic Genealogy; Paul Woodbury, MEd, AG
• Meeting Standard Using DNA Evidence: Case Studies Illustrate Sound Research Strategies and Decision-Making; Karen Stanbary, MA, LCSW, CG
• Applied Genealogical Methods Workshop: Hands-on Skillbuilding; Michael Hait, CG, AG
• Advanced Genealogical Methods; Paul K. Graham, AG, CG, CGL
• Evidence-Based Writing for Genealogists; Melissa Johnson, CG
• Guided Research and Consultation; Craig Roberts Scott, MA, CG, FUGA

Preliminary descriptions are available at SLIG.ugagenealogy.org. Full details and weekly outlines will be published by May. Registration opens July 16, 2022, at 10:00 am MDT.

SLIG Academy for Professionals 2023

February 9 - April 20, 2023 (Now Always Virtual)

Offering professional development courses for those employed in the industry or preparing to seek employment in the industry, this program is now in its fifth year. Originally designed to run in Salt Lake City the week following SLIG, the program moved to a virtual, multi-week format in 2021 due to the pandemic. 

And that is where it will stay due to strongly-expressed preferences of both faculty and students. The curriculum demands and the format allows for more in-depth study and project work between sessions.

The following courses will be offered in 2023:

• DNA Dreamers in Action: Writing Proof Arguments, coordinated by Karen Stanbary, MA, LCSW, CG
• Fundamentals of Forensic Genealogy; Catherine B.W. Desmarais, CG
• The Art of Writing Client Reports; Angela Packer McGhie, CG, FUGA
• Writing and Documenting for Peer Review; Karen Mauer Jones, CG, FGBS, FUGA

Preliminary descriptions are available at SLIGAcademy.ugagenealogy.org. Full details and weekly outlines will be published by May. Registration opens July 16, 2022, at 2:00 pm MDT.

Mark Your Calendars

Make sure registration dates/times are on your calendar. Most courses will fill quickly (as often within seconds to minutes). Additional faculty, outlines, and registration procedures will be announced at a later date.

We hope to "see you" at SLIG this upcoming year!

SLIG.ugagenealogy.org

Where's Waldo? or the Fall Certificates?

Where's Waldo? Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? I Spy? 

WHERE ARE THE CERTIFICATES?

An introductory note from the director:

Our committee hails from coast to coast and states between. In this virtual environment, we can work from anywhere, and always have. So, when the registrar, Zachary Hamilton, recently relocated to the midwest, took on the task of printing, stuffing, and mailing certificates last fall we didn't expect any challenges. Nor did we expect to be chasing down lost certificates in mid-January. Yet, here we are. 

Truly, you just can't make this stuff up!

Thanks Zachary, for finding and sharing the "rest of the story."

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We have grown concerned over the past few weeks about the certificates for SLIG Virtual 2021. We expected them to take a minute to arrive. Who wouldn't when they were sent amid the holidays? But the further we ventured into January, the more concerned we became. 

Location! Location! Location!: The mailing of certificates took place from Missouri. And not just anywhere in Missouri, a very very very small town Missouri. The population of the closest town to our Registrar (Zachary) was 226 people in the 2020 census, and the entire county hosts roughly 7,500 people. 

While there is a lot to be said about small-town life, apparently the smooth operation of the United States Postal Service is not one of them...

Timing is Everything: Certificates for Virtual went out in three batches. Two of the batches (containing the bulk of courses) were sent the week following Thanksgiving and the following week in early December. The last batch of certificates went out closer to Christmas due to a flaw in the printing: a psychedelic warped corner that made a better kaleidoscope than a professional certificate. 

All of these were taken to Zachary's close-by small town USPS branch with no knowledge of what was to come.

Investigation Begins: After weeks of waiting and wondering, and plenty of concerned emails and messages, Zachary went searching.

A truly small town: A call to the local USPS office that accepted the certificates found that – bad news piece number one – the certificates had not left when expected. The small-town branch apparently operates on old and sometimes malfunctioning equipment; large envelopes are often difficult for the machines. 

This results in such items being stockpiled and then taken (often a week or two later) to the larger post office in the nearby city of Springfield, Missouri. 

Not like the registrar wouldn't have been happy to drive the certificates to Springfield himself (~50 min drive) had he been informed!

Big City for the Holidays: So it appears that the certificates were bundled and taken to the "big city" about 2 weeks after they had been originally dropped off, and right in the heaviest part of the Christmas shipping season. The last batch was not delivered until early January. 

Did they go out? Sadly, the story doesn't end there.

Stuck in a Storage Room: As can sometimes happen around the end of the year (look up the horror stories online), the certificates were placed aside for "later shipping" in a storage room. And there they sat, and sat, and sat. 

Until Detective Zachary spent his breaks at SLIG working with the postal service to track them down. Days went by as the USPS searched and searched. 

Alas, as we were wrapping up SLIG, the news came in: the elusive certificates were nicely stacked and forgotten on the back of a shelf in a storage room.

On the Road Again: And now, another holiday over, the certificates should be making their way to students homes. 

Hopefully we never again have to play "Where's Waldo?" with your important mail!

2022 SLIG Wrap Up Keynote: "Coping with Covid and Genealogical Research–Flexibility Needed"–Richard G. Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA

The theme for 2022 SLIG has been "Flexibility," taking its cue from Genealogy Standard 16. (Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards, second edition revised [Nashville: Ancestry, 2021], p. 14.) Rick Sayre's keynote at the 2022 SLIG Wrap-Up Event spoke to that theme.

Highlights of the keynote address included:

• Genealogists repeatedly add to and otherwise modify their research plans, meeting Genealogy Standard 16 on flexibility.
• The Covid pandemic has changed much. Many have struggled over the last two years pursuing their genealogical research. Yet the Genealogy Standards and the Genealogy Proof Standard are enduring. Genealogists must find ways to meet those standards in their research.
• The Board for Certification of Genealogists has certified and renewed certification during the pandemic at a pace comparable to earlier years. People are finding ways to achieve quality research despite challenges in records access.
• While we might love attending onsite institutes, we might actually get a more comprehensive educational experience in the flexibility of a virtual offering. Moreover, holding institutes virtually permit more persons to attend than might be possible otherwise.
• Rick personally changed his mindset when asked to transition to a virtual course. He asked, How can the rest of the faculty and I offer this experience virtually and ensure it meets instructional objectives? He would not offer a course if it could not be done well.
• To the degree that instructional objectives were met at SLIG 2022, that was due to the flexibility of SLIG, the SLIG staff, faculty, and, importantly, students.
• Rick gave an example from his own research illustrating guidance from the Genealogy Standard regarding flexibility.
• He provided several examples of what genealogists can do to further their research to meet the flexibility expected by Genealogy Standard 16. These include:
• Become proficient in online research.
• Seek out research partners, such as one's spouse, DNA cousins, or the staff of local societies and archives.
• Read peer-reviewed journals.
• Join or form a study group.
• Exploit webinar archives, such as the Legacy Family Tree Webinars collection.

We greatly appreciate Rick's keynote presentation and his gracious flexibility in reworking his maps course for a virtual setting.

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Richard G. Sayre, CG. CGL, FUGA, is a long-time genealogical researcher and instructor. He coordinated and taught in advanced methodology, land, military, and beginning courses at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research from 2003 to 2017. Rick co-coordinates advanced land courses with Pam Sayre and legal courses with Judy Russell at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. He is an instructor at the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records. He also lectures at national conferences and presents nationwide seminars. Rick's areas of expertise include the records of the National Archives, Irish research, land records, government documents, federal land law, military records, and urban research.

SLIG 2022 Sponsor Highlight: AncestryProGenealogists

Janell Esplin, Talent Acquisition Manager with Ancestry, and a panel of four staff members answered SLIG participants' questions on Thursday about applying to and working for AncestryProGenealogists.

Highlights from questions and answers included:

• Interested and qualified researchers are invited to apply with AncestryProGenealogists even if they are not certified or accredited. Although credentialing is valued, applicants should emphasize their professional experience both in and out of genealogy.
• Applicants are encouraged to present themselves honestly in their applications and interviews. Don't oversell your research or language abilities.
• Managers are looking for persons who have sound project and time management skills and the ability to work well with others, in addition to research skills.
• One good way to get your foot in the door with AncestryProGenealogists is by becoming part of their contractor database of researchers who might be contacted to pull records locally.

Information about current openings and application procedures can be found at https://www.progenealogists.com/careers.

Janell Esplin can be contacted at janesplin@ancestry.com.

We thank Janell and the panel members from AncestryProGenealogists for taking the time to meet and talk with SLIG participants. A special recognition also goes to AncestryProGenealogists for their ongoing support of SLIG overall, and this year's sponsorship of the Military course.

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Janell Esplin is Talent Acquisition Manager at Ancestry, leading a team of recruiters who actively support Ancestry's Content, Family History Business, DNA Science and Operations, Legal and Member Services. She has brought over 75 genealogists into the Ancestry family and over 200 other persons into other openings across the organization. She has a passion for supporting her team and business partners to ensure that candidates have a great experience working with Ancestry. Before joining the Ancestry family, Janell was a recreation director in the human services field. Janell holds a bachelor's degree in behavioral sciences: psychology from Utah Valley University.

AncestryProGenealogists panel members:

• Deena Darst: Research Team Manager (specializing in Heir/Forensic research)
• Noah Lapidus: Genealogist (specializing in Souther African-American research)
• Brian Schellenberg: Research Manager (specializing in German research)
• Margaret Crymes: Research Manager (specializing in United Kingdom research)

SLIG 2022 Sponsor Highlight: FamilySearch

SLIG Night at the Family History Library has been a longstanding SLIG tradition. This year, David Rencher, Lynn Turner, and the FHL staff provided us with an online night at the FHL, including a virtual tour of the library highlighting recent enhancements.

Highlights from the opening plenary:

• David Rencher, FHL Director and FamilySearch Chief Genealogical Officer, spoke about some of the changes necessitated by COVID shutdowns and protocols. FHL has a new set of webpages and has made their lookup service and research helps available remotely.
• Lynn Turner, FHL Assistant Director, led viewers on a virtual tour of the library and provided additional details;
• The FHL webpage quickly updates information about changing hours, closures, etc. (http://www.familysearch.org/en/family-history-library/) 
• FHL relaunched its previously discontinued lookup service on 24 May 2021. Over 38,000 lookups were done for remote clients between that date and the end of the year. (https://www.familysearch.org/en/family-history-library/family-history-library-records-look-up-service).
• Information about online consultations is available on the webpage under "Research Help." (https://familysearch.org/en/family-history-library/family-history-library-research-consultations)
• Over 50,000 books have been brought out of storage and shelved on the third floor–mostly family histories.
• Height-adjustable workstations and more book scanners headline changes to the research environment within the library.
• The scanning operations center is working on scanning and getting online about 30,000 public domain family histories.

Highlights from the breakout sessions:

• General Topics (David Rencher and Lynn Turner):
• RootsTech
• RootsTech will be virtual in 2022 with over 1,200 presentations, including many in international languages. (https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/next/)
• Registrants will have free access to all sessions through the end of 2022.
• Future RootsTech formats are difficult to predict, with a hybrid format possible.
• Offering RootsTech virtually extends its reach much farther than is possible in person.
• Last year, about 5,000 research consultations were done during the RootsTech week. This year, the target is to do 8,000 consultations.
• On-the-ground teams have intentionally sought out presenters in other parts of the world.
• Collections (Bria Corry and Natalie Reese):
• The collections team includes six to seven full-time employees, some interns, and volunteers.
• The book digitization team is moving in-house to the FHL, hoping to digitize 10,000 books this year.
• Anyone can donate a book, PDF, or Word document. Societies sometimes make large donations. (https://www.familysearch.org/en/family-history-library/donations-page#literary-donations)
• Items in off-site storage can be requested to be pulled for use. Those items then remain in the library.
• International–B1 and B2 floors (Debbie Gurtler and Raymon Naisbitt):
• It doesn't matter which floor you are on; you can request a specialist from any geographic area, and they will come to you.
• The international reference section has been consolidated on one floor.
• All maps are now in one location on B1.
• U.S./Canada–2nd and 3rd floors (Jason Harrison and Todd Knowles):
• Statewide census books and family genealogies are back on shelves.
• Almost everything is on the shelves, though some rare or unusual books are in Special Collections.
• FHL is revisiting agreements, as many contracts were made before digitizing technologies.

We greatly appreciate the efforts of the FHL staff in making this virtual visit possible and FamilySearch for their ongoing support of SLIG as a course sponsor.

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David Rencher, CG, AG, FIGRS, FUGA, is Director of the Family History Library and Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch. A professional genealogist since 1977, he is one of the rare few who have earned both credentials: Accredited Genealogist with ICAPGen in Ireland research and Certified Genealogist with the Board for Certification of Genealogists. He is the Irish course coordinator and instructor for the Institute of Genealogical Research (IGHR), the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), and the British Institute of the International Society of British Genealogy and Family History. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1980 with a BA in Family and Local History. He has served as a member, a director, and/or an officer of a multitude of genealogical organizations. David has been named a fellow by the Utah Genealogical Association and the Irish Genealogical Research Society.

Lynn Turner, AG, is Assistant Director of the Family History Library. Lynn graduated with a BA in Family History and Genealogy from Brigham Young University with an emphasis in Spain and Latin America. He is an Accredited Genealogist through ICAPGen in Spain research.

SLIG 2022 Sponsor Highlight: MyHeritage

MyHeritage What's New, Power User Tips & Open Q&A 

Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage gave us a fast-paced review of recent updates as well as a sneak peak of what is coming in Wednesday's sponsored presentation. 

Tree Highlights include:

• Customized tree and improved list views
• Sharable report views the relationship between any two individuals in the tree 
• User control over smart match icons and settings
• Photo list view allows editing of information, sorting, and filtering
• Consistency checker

 DNA management highlights include:

• DNA labels (a highly requested item)
• Managed DNA kit pull-down menu in match view
• Match filter by relationships, matching ancestral locations, and more
• Profile list export to Excel for external analysis and management

Daniel also noted that many new records are "coming in from all over the world using transliteration technology to find relatives."

We sincerely appreciate MyHeritage's ongoing support of SLIG through sponsorship and their willingness to come to share updates important to further our research.

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Dedicated to genealogy since 1986, Daniel Horowitz is involved in several crowdsource digitization and transcription projects and holds a board-level position at The Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA). Since 2006 Daniel has been working at MyHeritage liaising with genealogy societies, bloggers, and media, as well as lecturing, and attending conferences around the world.

SLIG 2022 Sponsor Highlight: FamilyTreeDNA

FamilyTreeDNA Updates and Open Q&A 

Janine Cloud, Group Projects Manager, gave us an overview of FamilyTreeDNA's updates and initiatives over the past year at Wednesday's sponsored presentation. 

2021 was a "Year of Change." New ownership, a new management team, and several product enhancements topped the list.

Product enhancements include:

• Introduction of myDNA Wellness - uses the Family Finder data to provide insights about fitness, nutrition, sleep, and more.
• An updated matching algorithm for Family Finder data, with modifications to match thresholds and a new match page layout
• Updated Y-DNA and FamilyFinder pages
• Updated MyOrigins with 90 populations
• Chromosome painter with a view of both continental regions and super populations
• Support videos

Projects and Initiatives:

• This past year FTDNA reached landmark levels with Y-Haplotree. This pedigree of human ancestry now has 50,000 branches and over 460,000 variants.
• In progress is the Million Mito Project - the tree of womankind. FTDNA is presently evaluating the sequences in the database to make it dynamic like the Y tree. 

We sincerely appreciate FTDNA's ongoing support of SLIG through course sponsorship.

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Janine Cloud, a fifth-generation Texan and registered member of the Cherokee Nation, became interested in genealogy when a grade school assignment to complete a pedigree chart prompted her to question family members about her ancestors. She started working at FamilyTreeDNA in 2011 where she created the Group Projects - Events team she now manages. Janine has given presentations at conferences such as the National Genealogical Society Conference, RootsTech, and RootsTech London, as well as numerous local organizations.

SLIG 2022: Plenary Session Highlights

"If You Can't Find Your Own Family History, Steal Someone Else's"? 

Really?

Anyone familiar with Genealogy Standards published by the Board for Certification of Genealogists might question the sanity of that statement. 

Yet, F. Warren Bittner kicked off SLIG 2022 with a western-themed, historically-accurate case study demonstrating the need to do just that! 

Utilizing diaries, letters, journals, and documents taken from the lives of others, Warren fleshed out the details of the elusive life of Samuel Thompson, correcting a few "documented" inaccuracies along the way.

Samuel was born in Pomfret, New York in 1813 and died in Vernal, Utah in 1892. One of his earliest experiences as a fairly-new member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was participating in "Zions Camp" in 1834. Or was it? In spite of dozens of biographies stating otherwise, Warren demonstrates that Samuel was actually in Kirtland, Ohio building a temple at the time. 

Over a decade later, Samuel was at Sutter's mill when gold was discovered. Or was he? Turns out he was actually at Sutter's Fort, about 45 miles west.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, but you can quickly see where this is going. Warren researched his way through Samuel's published life sketch of migration, marriage, persecution, gold discoveries, and wars, to find a much more accurate history. And where actual records existed, but details lacked as is often the case, Warren utilized what he calls "stolen history" to weave together an accurate picture of Samuel's life.

The moral of the story? Don't steal someone else's history. Oh wait. Do steal someone else's history. Well, that's confusing! How about: don't inaccurately attribute historical events to someone's life, but once you have accurately documented events and no details to fill in the storyline, do "steal" from the diaries, letters, and documents of others to bring your ancestor's story to life.

Or something like that. 

Thanks, Warren, for a very informative evening!

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F. Warren Bittner, MS (History), is a genealogical researcher, educator, and author. He is a Genealogical Researcher at AncestryProGenealogists, where he specializes in German and German Immigrant research. He is former owner of an independent research firm, and previously worked for the Family History Library as the German Collection Manager.

Warren has coordinated German research courses for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). Known for his extensive research in German and US archives and repositories, Swiss records, and his expertise in late nineteenth-century New York City research, Warren has lectured widely at national conferences and society events. He is published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, is a former trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists, and a former member of the board of directors for the Utah Genealogical Association.

SLIG 2022: Experiencing the FHL Virtually

Challenging times require creative solutions. And the Family History Library has outdone itself this time!

Priority Service: Over the next two weeks – SLIG week and the week to follow – SLIG students and faculty will receive virtual VIP treatment as it relates to record requests (SLIG week) and online consultations (SLIG week and the week to follow). 

Additionally, the Family History Library has created a virtual event to replace the evening we had planned in person.

SLIG Night at the FHL
Wednesday, January 12th, 5:30 pm MST

• Presentations:
• David Rencher, Family History Library Director and Chief Genealogical Officer, will do a welcome presentation that will include new happenings at FamilySearch, the Family History Library, and RootsTech 2022.
• Lynn Turner, Assistant Director of the Family History Library, will do a virtual tour of the Family History Library and highlight exciting new services and changes.
• Breakouts:
• To wrap-up the FHL night event we will have 4 breakout rooms to answer general questions in the following areas:
• David and Lynn - discuss general topics related to the FHL, FamilySearch and RootsTech 2022
• Collection Team - two members of the FHL Collections team will be available to answer questions about books, films, fiche, maps, etc. Come learn what it takes to move more than 250,000 books and add another 20,000 books to the shelves of the FHL.
• International Team - two members of our reference staff will be available to answer questions related to our B1 an B2 floors. A lot has happened with where things are and services provided on each floor, come and learn about these changes, and ask these FHL staff members questions related to these floors.
• U.S./Canada Team - two members of our reference staff will be available to answer questions related to our 2nd and 3rd floors. A lot has happened with where things are and services provided on each floor, come and learn about these changes, and ask these FHL staff members questions related to these floors.

Thank you Lynn and David for helping us have access to, and information about, the Family History Library in our 2022 virtual environment!