Restrictions on viewing images at LDS site Family Search

[Nick29]

As surprised as you may be, I am not moaning nor am I lying.

I was surprised at Josephine's claim that there was "no LDS centre with that type of setup", because where I live (out in the sticks in the UK Fens) I have an LDS centre 15 miles away.  When I looked up Ontario, Canada, the place is teeming with them ! 

I appreciate that Josephine does not drive and may be infirm, but it's not possible to do family history entirely online.  The records she is moaning about are not unique - a lot of LDS records are on microfilm which they do not lend out, and which are also only available to view at LDS centres.

But the fact remains..... that the majority of records held by the LDS are only viewable at one of their centres.   Although there's a huge amount of data available online these days, not all of it is, so some travel is inevitable.

P.S. I'm a member of the LDS, but I'm NOT a Mormon (or anything else, for that matter).

[alunno-a]

Is it me? I have lost track of what this discussion is about....

The Strood PRs are on CityArk- all the Medway Prs are there.

The LDS does not own the copyright to these or any other PRs, nor does anyone else including the Churches. They own copyright,if at all, to their images/indexing/transcriptions. PRs are public records.

There are lots of problems with Family Search and the IGI etc, and it is annoying that not all their stuff is freely available on line-annoying, but why should it be free?? It isn't free on any other site, we pay for looking at images at the national Archives site, Ancestry etc etc.  

None of us would get very far in our research if it wasn't for the LDS: they must spend millions getting all this stuff- we may not like their motivation, but we should be grateful- and use their data base and records as it should be used, wisely- and stop moaning.

[Gaie]

Nick, I think at one time I signed up to the LDS on one of their websites.  As far as I remember it was no more difficult than becoming a member of Rootschat, ie user name, password, e-mail address; is that right?

If you can confirm that's all it takes, then I suggest Josephine does the same and signs up - set up a hotmail account if you don't want to be easily identified; problem solved 

If the LDS hadn't bothered to film all those records all over the world and made them available all over the world, along with the transcriptions that they have provided for free, then we'd all find this hobby much harder.  Personally I'm grateful to them.

KR
Gaie

[Guy Etchells]

Snip

The LDS does not own the copyright to these or any other PRs, nor does anyone else including the Churches. They own copyright,if at all, to their images/indexing/transcriptions. PRs are public records.

snip

Parish Registers are not and never have been public records they have always been the copyright of the vicar or current incumbent of the parish and were at one time one of the main sources of his income.
The fact that the public have access to records does not mean that the records are in the public domain as far as copyright is concerned.

Parish registers are indeed one of the few works that could be considered to carry perpetual copyright.
The reason for this is unless a parish is amalgamated into another, the parish register is a continuing work of multiple authors. It is only when a parish no longer exists that a parish register may be considered complete and the copyright timetable starts.

Cheers
Guy

[Alexander.]

P.S. I'm a member of the LDS, but I'm NOT a Mormon (or anything else, for that matter).

I'm not an expert on the subject, but the LDS church does not allow non-Mormons to be members of their church. Sure, you can make an account on FamilySearch, but this will not give you access to any additional records such as the Kent registers and certainly does not make you a member of the LDS.

[alunno-a]

Guy-


Are you sure??

I cannot see how copyright conventions can apply to parish records- they are not creative works, and do not have authors. Copyright does not apply to data sets or information in itself. And PRs are public records, what makes you think they are not? An incumbant making a few bob on them is irrelevent- that was his fee for keeping the record- just like a registrar's salary. The Parish acted as the collector of records required  by statute, by the courts etc.and could be looked at and COPIED on demand.

Is this not right??
Sally

[Redroger]

An incumbant making a few bob on them is irrelevent- that was his fee for keeping the record- just like a registrar's salary.

Mammon wins again!!

[Nick29]

Nick, I think at one time I signed up to the LDS on one of their websites.  As far as I remember it was no more difficult than becoming a member of Rootschat, ie user name, password, e-mail address; is that right?

Yes, that's entirely correct, and that's what I did.  I've not been contacted or pestered since that time.

[Josephine]

It's not that it's not free. It's that only Mormons are permitted to view certain records on the LDS website (not just the Strood records) and these records pertain to Anglicans. (Other records on the LDS website may be viewed online by anyone including non-Mormons.) My question, born out of disappointment and curiousity, was why that was so. It strikes me as more than a little odd.

Is it me? I have lost track of what this discussion is about....

The Strood PRs are on CityArk- all the Medway Prs are there.

The LDS does not own the copyright to these or any other PRs, nor does anyone else including the Churches. They own copyright,if at all, to their images/indexing/transcriptions. PRs are public records.

There are lots of problems with Family Search and the IGI etc, and it is annoying that not all their stuff is freely available on line-annoying, but why should it be free?? It isn't free on any other site, we pay for looking at images at the national Archives site, Ancestry etc etc.  

None of us would get very far in our research if it wasn't for the LDS: they must spend millions getting all this stuff- we may not like their motivation, but we should be grateful- and use their data base and records as it should be used, wisely- and stop moaning.