Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Indexing the World?

Well-known genealogist Arlene Eakle has started a weekly blog, and her two articles so far are very interesting.

This week, Arlene passed word on the new LDS FamilySearch (R) Retooled in her article here. The money quote from her article:

The records and Information Division estimates that it will take 6-7 years to scan all 2.5 million microfilm rolls stored in the Granite Mountain Vaults. In the meantime, technology development continues so that every word in those frames can be digitally indexed and electronically stored for retrieval.

And what will be the impact on researchers? Arlene thinks:

With electronic help, each and every name, each and every word in each and every record can be indexed! So that all of us can find particular ancestors quickly. Names become the primary focus of the databases; localities and jurisdictions become identifiers.

We need a whole News Sheet to discuss the dramatic impact of an every name and every word index to the original genealogical documents of the world. And we need some time to let the above news sink in! Let me mention just one exciting option: surname intersections. This search feature will identify where 2 surnames intersect in marriage records so you can find the place of the marriage and print the marriage document itself.

I can hardly wait, but will have to temper my enthusiasm for at least a while.

Go read the whole article. And put Arlene's blog in your Favorites or Bookmarks for weekly reference.

We are seeing more professionals blogging and sharing their news, experience and research. That is a really good thing.

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