FAMILYSEARCH WORLD WIDE CAMERA OPERATIONS

The following is information from the FamilySearch Blog.

Behind the scenes of image capturing

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes of indexing and image capturing? There are more than 1.5 million images captured each week. Who makes this possible? Records preservation missionaries, contractors, FamilySearch employees, archive employees, and many volunteers are responsible for capturing millions of images each year. These historical records are captured so that they may be indexed, preserved, and published on FamilySearch.org.
There are about 222 cameras located all over the world; 92 cameras in the Western Hemisphere, and 130 in the Eastern Hemisphere. These industrial cameras can each take millions of images ranging from 16 to 50 megapixels. Computer software is used to calibrate the camera, capture the image, manage the project, and capture metadata or information about the records. Clamps and foam wedges are used to keep the book level and the image in focus. All images are saved on an external hard drive at the end of each week, placed in a protective case, and sent to Salt Lake City, Utah. Once the hard drive arrives in Salt Lake, it is sent through an auditing process where rejected images are sent back for rework and approved images are processed and published. View the video, “FamilySearch Records Preservation Missionaries,” to see the record preservation missionaries in action.

Once these images are captured, they need to be indexed to be searchable on FamilySearch.org. Volunteer to index these images today.

Volunteering to index the images that FamilySearch has digitized is something that anyone can do.  How many time have you been disappointed when you find that a new set of records has been digitized but not indexed?  It is very time consuming to browse through the entire set of records to find that particular record you need.  By volunteering to index we are helping to come one step closer to having all of the records on FamilySearch indexed.  I am looking forward to that day - Volunteer to start indexing today!

At NGS 2013 FamilySearch disclosed that it plans to significantly increase the number of cameras. It plans to do so using record preservation missionaries to operate the cameras. (Record Preservation missionaries are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, generally retired, who volunteer 18 to 24 months of their time to operate FamilySearch cameras.)