Big News!!! Digitized Microfilm Records Newly Available on FamilySearch.org

This is not just another list of new collections in the Historical Record Collections, this is new news. Here is the explanation from the following FamilySearch Blog:

McBride, Lisa. “News Flash! Digitized Microfilm: From the Drawer to Your Computer.” FamilySearch Blog. Accessed November 6, 2015. https://familysearch.org/blog/en/news-flash-digitized-microfilm-drawer-computer/.

Here is the explanation of what has been added to the FamilySearch.org Catalog:

Exciting news is here explaining how users will access microfilmed records found in the FamilySearch catalog. In the early weeks of November, a new feature called the Thumbnail Gallery will be available to the public. Everywhere that historical record images are visible, users can view a single full-screen image or view a gallery of thumbnail (small) images for all images on a microfilm. Parts of this new viewer can be accessed through the Record Hints on Family Tree.

Thumbnail Gallery

Some new features include:

• Viewing both the indexed data and the image together. This feature is available only with indexed records.
• Navigating to other images within the collection by clicking Next or jumping to a specific image.
• Viewing citation information. It is found in an information tab below each image.

Catalog Icons

In addition to these features, watch for new icons in the FamilySearch catalog. Look for the icons in the Film Notes area of the catalog record title page. The icon links will let you take three specific actions from the catalog page:

• Jump to the indexed records found on a film—click the search icon.
• Jump to the gallery view of images from a film—click the camera icon.
• Jump to film ordering—click the film roll icon.

If indexing is not completed for a film, the indexed (search) icon will not show in the catalog. If a film is not digitized, the camera icon will not show up. Once a film is available digitally, the film ordering icon will disappear.

FamilySearch explains why this is so important:

Why Is This Important? 

This is a huge boon to family history centers. It enables you to take a major leap forward with transitioning from microfilm to digital access. This feature will greatly simplify the record-finding experience for center staff and visitors. Films can be accessed with just a click, rather than dealing with the hassles of ordering films, cost issues, and wait periods. FamilySearch has given priority to scanning the most-requested microfilms.

Essentially, this means that at some time in the future (years) all of the film will be online and not available for order through delivery to Family History Centers. However, due to agreements with the originators of the originally filmed documents, there will be some restrictions. Some films will be available to LDS members only, some films will only be made available through computers in the Family History Centers, some may only be available to those who are logged into FamilySearch.org and the remaining ones will be available to anyone accessing the website.

Please note that the films will become available online depending on the demand for the microfilm. The idea here is retire the most used films first. Here is a screenshot of the new icons:

This is a breakthrough in the availability of the digitized microfilms. Here is what the thumbnail images look like:

I can then zoom in on an image and show the full-size record and also navigate to previous and subsequent images.