nuccia wrote:

reader/printer

this is the same setup available to me. old readers (one has the lens for 16mm and it is often 'out of order'), and a reader/printer which as i mentioned gives me, at best, a harsh, xerox-like print for $.25. nobody there even knows what a "scanner" is. i suppose i am just being too particular (visual artist that i am), but they could look so much better. they are such beautiful documents.

When I went...the women there who ran the library..were very friendly. They were very good to me, too. The only problem was, they were only opened a couple of nights a week and sunday morning after their services. I used to go on wed night (2 hours) and sunday (two hours). In winter, many nights, they wouldnt open..because the women couldnt get there. (They would call me, if they werent open, or I would call them at home..they gave me their phone numbers.) A couple of times, to make up for that, they would open on a sat. One sat, they were having a baptism and asked us (me and hubby) if we wanted to watch. We went. I found it very interesting.

Closer to the end of my time going, they asked those who werent mormon, not to go on the sunday..because they wanted their own people to use the place. This limited me to just one night a week.

I used to wish I could take that film home and rent my own reader, printer..but, knew that would never happen.

Getting this stuff online is such a huge bonus, for those who are new at this. I got more out of the censuses from ancestry, than I ever could have gotten from the NYC public library or the FHL. The nyc public library has the same type setup...except, their film doesnt need to be ordered..its always there. They have a massive amount of readers..and on the other side..the reader copiers. Its the same drill..find it first..then wait on line to copy what you found. Very, very time consuming. We would go there in the early morning..and leave at 5pm. I didnt eat, smoke (or even go pee)..lol I went there 4 saturdays in a row..it was the very first thing I did, before I even went to the fhl.

About the indexing. I dont know how it was when you did it Nuccia, since they seem to change things..with updates. When you open your software..you can either click the "download batch" button..or the "download from" button. If you choose batch..they send you only one page of their choice. I started off doing that..which happened to be the 1920 federal census-alabama. After a while, they began sending me an indian census. I have nothing against our native americans...but this census is on two pages and they have one page under the other..so it doesnt auto move the copy. It moves to the end of the line, then you manually have to move it down and find your person. Yuk.

I then tried the "download from" button. In there..it lists all of the projects and you can choose what you want to do. You can also have more than one page sent to you, but, I take one at a time....so that when I finish a page..I am holding nothing they have to take back.

Their software makes things so easy a child could probably do it (if they could decipher the chicken scratch). ALL of their copies are very clear. Its the census taker, that creates the problems with the indexing. I now have a better idea, than I ever had, of why sometimes we never find what we know is there. Between the sloppy writing, with many making up their own abbreviations, and the indexer not being able to make heads or tails out of what they are seeing (and will take a wild guess, rather than click to have it state (unreadable), its a miracle any of us ever found anything..lol

I am not a tv watcher. I used to play a lot of computer games, online..instead. At least, doing this, I know I am helping people. I feel, getting these records out there...is so valuable to people like us. So, if anyone has a few minutes to spare...sign up..even if you just try it once. You have nothing to lose, you are helping people..and if you find you dont like it..you just stop.