Frequently Asked Questions

Thousands of FamilySearch affiliate libraries are helping extend FamilySearch services to millions of patrons worldwide. Although FamilySearch manages the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and over 6,500 FamilySearch centers throughout the world, it recognizes the need for library affiliates to help more patrons make personal family history connections.

Affiliate libraries have access to FamilySearch’s digital genealogical collections that are otherwise accessible only through a FamilySearch center. Affiliate libraries may be a public or higher education library, archive, museum, cultural center, or genealogical or historical society.

Additional benefits may be available in an affiliate library. Often, affiliate libraries are open to the public more hours than most FamilySearch centers, feature historical records in the library’s historical and genealogical collection, offer access to additional records through the library’s interlibrary loan system, and include possible research assistance and media conversion resources.

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. We are a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use our records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 125 years. People access our services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 6,500 FamilySearch locations in over 140 countries, including the main FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

To learn more about the Church's sponsorship of FamilySearch, click here.

For an affiliate library, the following items will be required:

• Remain open to the public during normal business hours.
• Provide at least one internet-connected computer workstation with a static IP address that can access affiliate records at no cost to patrons. (Note: This computer does not need to be a dedicated workstation for FamilySearch use only.)
• Designate a static public IP address (or range of addresses) or proxy static IP address for each building of the affiliate patron's facility.

When your institution is approved as a FamilySearch affiliate, a downloadable certificate becomes available in the Affiliate Admin Portal. You can access and download it at:

https://www.FamilySearch.org/en/locations/affiliates/my-locations

To find your library on the map, click here.

If your facility is incorrectly listed on the map, send an email to affiliatelibraries@FamilySearch.org. Please include your library's name and address in the email.

If your library became an affiliate since January 2022, unfortunately the mapping software has changed, and we are currently not able to add new addresses. We apologize and are working with our engineers to get this fixed.

Any FamilySearch microfilms or microfiche in your center or affiliate library are on loan and are the property of FamilySearch. Long-term loans made to individuals also belong to FamilySearch. Do not donate, give away, sell, or relocate microfilms or microfiche to another facility, individual, or organization without permission.

The copyright holder or records custodian maintains rights of ownership. The record custodian gives the Church license to copy the records and circulate microfilms to the FamilySearch Library or as digital images.

To view other frequently asked questions about FamilySearch microfilm or microfiche, click here.

As more images become available online, periodically reevaluate whether to retain FamilySearch microfilm holdings.

FamilySearch microfilms or microfiche in your affiliate library are on loan and are the property of FamilySearch. Long-term loans also belong to FamilySearch. Do not donate, give away, sell, or relocate microfilms or microfiche to another facility, individual, or organization without permission.

Please return any unneeded microfilm or microfiche to FamilySearch. For instructions, click here.

FamilySearch offers a wide range of resources to help library staff support patrons in their family history research. Staff and patrons can explore:

• Quick Instructions—A short, staff‑friendly guide to using affiliate access https://www.FamilySearch.org/en/locations/affiliates/quick-instructions
  
• Learning Resources—Free online consultations, over 1,000 research webinars, and the FamilySearch Research Wiki
  https://www.FamilySearch.org/en/library/learning-resources

These resources provide practical help for both staff and the patrons they serve.

The IP address you provided receives special status and is activated on our domain. This allows your institution to access additional records that are otherwise restricted.

To verify access from your location, click the following URL, which is for a restricted collection: https://www.FamilySearch.org/search/film/007458800?cat=693839.

If you are signed in to the website, this URL should display thumbnail images. The images verify that you have the special access.

Note: For step-by-step instructions to verify record access, go to the Affiliate Library Support page, and review Image Access Diagnostics for Affiliate Libraries: https://www.FamilySearch.org/en/affiliates/support.

On the FamilySearch website, some images have restrictions or limitations that determine who can see them or where you can see them. You can view some images at a 3rd-party company site, sometimes for a fee. In some cases, you can gain access by visiting a FamilySearch center or an affiliate library.

Click here for a list of the possible restrictions that you may see as you use historical records.

FamilySearch’s model for preserving and providing access to the world’s historical genealogical records is to work with record custodians to provide the broadest access to such records for the most people possible.

We strive to attain applicable legal permissions to publish record collections that yield the greatest access allowed in each instance. If full public access cannot be attained for specific record collections, FamilySearch works to provide free access to those records through its FamilySearch centers and FamilySearch affiliate libraries and may also seek online access for specific groups.

As a nonprofit organization funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch may seek access for members of the Church when broader access is not granted by the record custodian.