Mark Your Calendars - UVPAFUG Meeting!

UTAH VALLEY PAF USERS GROUP

The next regular, second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting of the Utah Valley PAF (Personal Ancestral File) Users Group will be on Saturday, 8 Mar 2008, from 9 am until noon in the LDS "Red" Chapel at 4000 North Timpview Drive (650 East), in Provo. The main presentation will be by Don Anderson on THE FUTURE OF FAMILY HISTORY CENTERS.

Will the number of FHC's stay the same or will there be fewer or more in the future? With all the microfilms digitized and online what will be the purpose of FHC's? Or will all the films be online? What about the ones the Church doesn't have the copyright permission to post? Will everyone have a computer at home and know how to use it? Will there be a "Computer Specialist" called in each ward to help those with no computers or computer expertise? Who will teach the Church members how to do genealogy research when their lines get past the easy-to-find names? Will the purpose of FHC's shift? These are some of the questions we hope to hear considered by our speaker, Don Anderson at this meeting.

Don R. Anderson is the Director of the Worldwide Support Services Division of the Family and Church History Department of the LDS Church. In this role Don has responsibility to provide help to individuals searching for their ancestors using family history department software and services as well as support for family history centers and priesthood leaders worldwide. Prior to his employment with the Department, Don was the Vice-President of Operations in Technical Support Services for the Convergys Customer Management Group. Don studied Business Administration at Weber State University. He is married to the former Anne Russell and they are the parents of two boys.

Following the main presentation there will be several classes taught concerning technology and family history. As usual, there will be something for everyone at all levels of expertise. The classes currently scheduled for this meeting are the following:

1. Searching for Completed Ordinances in the Internet IGI and in New FamilySearch, by Duane Dudley
2. Internet Q & A, by Laurie Castillo
3. Administering a PHPGedView Web Site, by John Finlay
4. Individual Mentoring in the FHC by Claudia Benson and a mini-class there on Improve Your Census Searches, by Rae Lee Steinacker
5. Q&A on the Future of FHC's, by Don Anderson
6. Video of last month's main presentation on FamilySearch Web Services and 3rd Party Applications, by Gordon Clarke
7. Legacy, by Joel Graham.
8. There will be NO Ancestral Quest nor RootsMagic classes this month.
   

All meetings of the Users Group are open to the public whether members of the Group or not. The Users Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 100-125 attending the monthly meetings on the second Saturdays. Several of the officers, including Gerhard Ruf, President; Brian Cooper, 2nd VP; Lynne Shumway, PAFology Editor; Kay Baker and Gerry Eliason working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill, Eileen Phelps, and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD & Video Library, will all be there. They will help with membership, questions, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter PAFology, and check out DVD's and videos of past presentations and classes to members of the group. Information about the Users Group, main presentations, classes, and class notes are available on the Group's website http://uvpafug.org . For further information contact President Gerhard Ruf at pres@uvpafug.org (801-225-6106), VP1 Elder Don Snow at snowd@math.byu.edu, or VP2 Brian Cooper at vp2@uvpafug.org.