Politics & Government
Brighton District Library Expands Genealogy Resources for Family History
Library's Genealogy and Local History Collection of the Brighton Room is one of the largest collections of family and local history information in Livingston County.
The is pleased to announce that it is now a FamilySearch affiliate library. The new designation means library patrons who use the Library’s Brighton Room, where genealogy and local history collections are housed, will have greater and more convenient access to the wealth of genealogical resources through FamilySearch. Fewer than 120 libraries across the nation have been afforded this honor.
FamilySearch is the world’s largest repository of genealogical records and manages the famous Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. It has amassed billions of birth, marriage, death, census, land and court records of genealogical significance from over 130 countries.
FamilySearch is extending access to its collections by circulating microfilms of the historic records through select public libraries. The Brighton District Library is now one of those libraries.
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“Less than 5 percent of the world’s genealogical records are available online, and most family history researchers cannot afford to travel to an archive nationally or worldwide to find the historic records they are seeking,” said Paul Nauta, FamilySearch public affairs manager.
FamilySearch has more than 200 camera teams filming historic records in 45 countries on any given day. These records are then circulated to public patrons through FamilySearch centers worldwide, like the Brighton District Library.
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For example, FamilySearch has filmed more than 60 percent of the Civil Registration (birth, marriage and death records) of Italy. If you have Italian ancestry, chances are you will be able to extend your Italian research by using FamilySearch films through the Brighton District Library.
There is a fee of $6.00 to order microfilm. Once the film arrives, patrons use the microfilm readers at the Brighton District Library to peruse it. The library staff can help patrons see what films are available, place orders, and answer research questions. Patrons can also search the Family History Library Catalog online at FamilySearch.org to see what records FamilySearch has available to order through the library.
For more information about the genealogy and local history collection at the Brighton Room, go to http://brightonlibrary.info/history or call 810-229-6571.
