The Future of FamilySearch's Digitization Program

The above image shows the current location of digitization teams from FamilySearch around the world as provided in a recent blog post from Family Search entitled "The Future Looks Exciting for FamilySearch's Record Digitization Program." As the post explains, in addition to digitizing the existing microfilmed records stored in the Granite Vault, FamilySearch has an extremely active and widespread effort to digitize additional records from around the world.

Currently, the records are being published at an ever increasing rate on the FamilySearch.org website. Here is a screenshot of a the recent additions to the website,

As the post further points out, FamilySearch has collected over 3.2 billion record images from over 100 countries, representing over 170 languages. The post explains that the effort to digitize additional records is expanding in many parts of the world. For example, in Guatemala, the following is happening;

Latin America has increased camera placement by more than 50% in each of the last two years. One of the most significant projects for Latin America is happening in Guatemala. The government there is truly partnering with FamilySearch to create some remarkable success stories.

FamilySearch is providing the cameras and training while the Guatemalan government is providing the manpower to operate 10 cameras, 3 shifts per day. It is amazing to see the remarkable success taking place in that country.

FamilySearch also explains some of the plans for the future:

While most areas of the world will experience expansion in 2014, the greatest growth, in terms of percentage, will likely be in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. All of these areas are expecting over 100% growth in camera placement in 2014. 

We are currently working on significant government contracts in India as well. Our access to Catholic records in the Philippines have taken a miraculous turn. This success should result in some remarkable experiences for anyone who wants to get access to important historical records in the Philippine Islands. 

The future is very bright for FamilySearch’s record digitization program. With indexing efforts expanding, new partnerships creating exciting opportunities, and the continued expansion of FamilySearch’s image capturing efforts, we will see significantly more images added to FamilySearch than ever before. This is truly an exciting time for FamilySearch. The future looks very bright, indeed!

It is interesting that I commonly find people, even in the Church, who are entirely unaware of this vast effort to digitize the world's records.