I was fortunate enough recently to attend a lecture by Sharon Hintze, Director of the Hyde Park Family History Centre in London. She explained what was happening to the FamilySearch website at the current time.
1. Large amounts of data, transcribed from their microfilms, are being transferred from their beta test site to their new FamilySearch site at www.familysearch.org
2. This is evidently taking time and tranches are being ‘migrated’ into this site on a continuing basis in the middle of the night Utah time. This may cause the site to be inaccessible during daytime hours in other parts of the world.
3. This continual updating means that it may be useful for researchers to visit the site on a regular basis.
4. This is a worldwide project and, evidently, no particular emphasis will be given to the records of British India.
5. In the longer term, the transcribed records as currently presented, sometimes containing less data than appears on the original, will be augnented by a digital image of the original record. No timescale is available for this.
6. The expression ‘FamilySearch’ will be used for all this activity and the Family History Centres will, in future, become known as ‘FamilySearch’ Centres.
I hope that you find this helpful.
Good Hunting!
Peter Bailey
FIBIS Chairman