The folks at FamilySearch.org are constantly tweaking their already-great free data site. The latest update involves two important features:
1. There’s now a drop-down menu for logging on to FamilySearch, which makes it easier to access the settings and source boxes from anywhere on the site. (Why have a log-in on a free site? Because FamilySearch doesn’t own most of its record sets, and those who do sometimes place restrictions on use. Those who log in have access to more records than those who don’t.)
2. That “classic” data set, the International Genealogy Index (IGI), is now fully searchable. From FamilySearch’s home page, just click on “All Record Collections” toward the bottom of the page, then enter “IGI” in the search field. (Why search the IGI? It accounts for about 20% of the 3 billion or so records on FamilySearch.org. Both indexed record sets and user-submitted trees are part of the IGI. The IGI has been around for a long time–long before digitized data sets came into use. The IGI can be particularly helpful if you are reviewing or updating research that was done many years ago and/or may have been submitted by Latter-day Saint (Mormon) families.)
Here’s a new, brief video that will walk you through the updates:
