The authors do not live in Salt Lake City. In fact, they live in Minnesota. They have written this book for the 99 percent of Americans who do not live within convenient driving distance of Salt Lake City. They tell how to use some of the resources of this huge library from the convenience of your own homes. Then, they explain how to use many more resources by driving to a local Family History Center near your home. Finally, they tell how to plan a visit to Salt Lake City, with advice for making the most of your time at the Family History Library. They even give advice on hotels, restaurants, and sightseeing attractions in the area.

The following is the Table of Contents of this new book:

Part One: Starting Points and Basic Information

What Is The Family History Library?
Basics of Family History Research

Part Two: Access to the Library Collection

FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service
Other Sources for Family History Library Information
The Family History Library Catalog
Family History Centers
Going to Salt Lake City

Part Three: The Records in the Family History Library

Major U.S. Collections
Resources for U.S. Localities
Records of the World

Part Four: Researching On-Site at the Family History Library

The Family History Library Building
Joseph Smith Memorial Building
Working In The Library
I Only Have A Few Hours!
Group Research Trips
Working With A Professional Researcher

Part Five: Making the Most of Your Trip to the Beautiful Salt Lake City Area

Salt Lake City Basics, A to Z
Accommodations
Restaurants
Attractions and Services
Temple Square
Other Area Repositories
Now What? After Your Trip

The book ends with a lengthy Appendix that lists other sources of information, several pages of blank forms that you can photocopy, and a full index.

Your Guide to the Family History Library is an easy read. The authors wrote this as a reference manual, not as a book that you read from start to finish. You can jump in at any place to learn about a particular topic of interest. However, anyone who does read the entire book from cover to cover will certainly become very knowledgeable about the Family History Library and all its many services.

One thing that I liked was a two-page checklist near the back of the book titled, "Give Yourself A Tour." The idea is that you enter the Family History Library in Salt Lake City armed with this checklist and then seek out everything listed. Once completed, you will be very familiar with the facility. The checklist mentions such obvious things as computer workstations, locations of microfilm and microfiche cabinets and viewers, photocopy machines, the snack room area, water fountains and the restrooms. However, this checklist includes other things I never thought about. I have visited the Family History Library many times, and yet I still do not know the locations of the staplers, paper cutters and three hole punches. Anyone who follows this checklist will find them quickly.

Of course, it is easy to focus on the services available in Salt Lake City. However, the authors devote a lot of space in this book to telling how to use the resources available there without ever traveling to Utah. The online databases are constantly growing, even though they do not yet contain more than a fraction of all the records available. A lot more information is available at a local Family History Center near your home. There are more than thirty-four hundred Family History Centers worldwide. These Centers provide microfilm and microfiche access to most of the resources in Salt Lake City although certainly those resources are not as easy to obtain remotely. The Warrens describe the remote services available in some detail.

Your Guide to the Family History Library is an excellent book for anyone beginning his or her family tree research. In fact, some of us old-timers can learn a lot from this 258-page paperback as well.

Your Guide to the Family History Library by Paula Stuart Warren & James W. Warren is published by Betterway Books, the parent company of FamilyTree Magazine. It has a list price of $19.99 (U.S. funds) and is available from most any bookstore if you specify ISBN 1-55870-578-3. You can also safely order it online from FamilyTree Magazine’s secure online Web site at: www.familytreemagazine.com/store/display.asp?id=70513.

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