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, 11 Oct 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 DearMYRTLE (Pat Richley) on A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR FAMILY HISTORY CONSULTANTS.

The role of Family History Consultants is crucial to an active Family History program in any ward and stake and especially during the much anticipated change-over to new FamilySearch. Many wonder what we can be doing while our long awaited "official" FH manual is still awaiting final signatures? Myrt offers suggestions to build interest among non-genealogists in wards, tackle organization challenges, teach correct research principles even for class participants with diverse ancestral backgrounds, and coordinate with other consultants in the ward and stake.

DearMYRTLE is the nom de plume of Pat Richley, a retired post-secondary computer instructor. An active genea-blogger, Myrt is author of DearMYRTLE's Joy of Genealogy (2006), and The Everything Online Genealogy Book (2000), instructor at DearMYRTLE's Salt Lake Study Group, hostess of DearMYRTLE's Family History Hour and the Family History Expos genealogy podcasts, author of the Teach Genealogy Blog, and coordinator for UGG (The Union of Genealogy Groups in Second Life). She recently presented classes at BYU's 2008 Computerized Genealogy Conference, the National Genealogical Society, the Utah Genealogical Association 2008 Fall Conference and will serve as the dinner speaker at UGA's 2009 Salt Lake Institute. Myrt last presented at a Utah Valley PAF Users Group meeting in 2006, where she spoke about "Getting from the Index to the Original". Her website is www.DearMYRTLE.com.

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. New FamilySearch, by John Blake
2. Using WorldVitalRecords, by Robert Raymond
3. Family Pursuit, by Michael Martineau
4. Q & A: A Practical Guide for FHCons., by DearMyrtle
5. Individual Mentoring in the FHC
6. Ancestral Quest, by Gaylon Findlay (author of AQ)
7. Legacy, by Dean Bennett
8. RootsMagic, by Bruce Buzbee (author of RM)

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; Eileen Phelps, PAFology Editor; Kay Baker and Gerry Eliason working with finances and membership; and Bruce Merrill, Lynne Shumway, and Marie Andersen, working with the DVD & Video Library, will all be there. They will help with membership, answer 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 and the past press releases are at http://blog.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.