RIVERTON, UTAH
It's a Tuesday night at the Riverton FamilySearch Library, and the year-old, state-of-the-art facility is crowded with teenagers, their eyes glued to computer screens.
But these young men and women from wards in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley are not playing video games. If not searching their own kindred dead, they are indexing digital images of microfilmed records to help other users of the Church's popular FamilySearch.org website.
"We're open three nights a week, and most of those nights are pretty full with youth," said Suzanne H. Curley, director.
The library opened June 21 of last year, replacing 24 smaller family history centers in that portion of the valley.
Shaun Kirby, right, assistant deacons quorum adviser, helps son Caden, a new deacon, with indexing, while friend Ammon Oliphant looks on.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
"The idea was that we would consolidate resources, that we would be able to have all the latest high-tech equipment here and a large facility where people could come and have access to it."
Located in a large office building that it shares with other Church functions, the library is open 60 hours a week, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday and till 5 p.m. Monday, Friday and Saturday.
Has it met expectations?
"It really has amazed us," Sister Curley said. In March, for example, the total patronage was 3,855, of which 1,373 were members of youth groups who reserve the facility in advance for such events as combined Young Men/Young Women activities for Mutual.
Riverton FamilySearch Library, open a year this month (June) regularly hosts youth groups weekly and has boosted interest among youth in the region in searching their family history.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
On this night, youth from the Daybreak 7th Ward, located near the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, have come with a goal in mind for their indexing efforts, one that they will quickly achieve. Just before a closing prayer to conclude their activity, Bishop Matt McQueen announces to the group that their evening's efforts have yielded 6,750 indexed names.
That number well exceeds the goal of 6,000 names the ward's youth set for themselves last November.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
"We hit that pretty quickly, in one month," Bishop McQueen said. Then, they decided to index the names of 21,000 people, enough to fill the Church's Conference Center in Salt Lake City. They met that in a month.
"So now, we've upped it, and we're trying for 100,000 names as a youth group," the bishop said.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
The key to the success has been the Aaronic Priesthood quorum leaders and Young Women class presidents getting on board, combined with the assistance provided by the new library in Riverton.
"They've been accommodating in letting us come and take up half the facility," Bishop McQueen said. "It's been a perfect coordination of efforts."
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
Mitch Doman, teachers quorum president, is quick to give credit to the bishop.
"He brought it up in BYC (Bishop's Youth Council meeting) and got us started," he said. "He asked us if any of us had heard of it. We came here back in November, and it got us hooked."
Becky Keyser receives assistance from Elder Clyde Frehner, family history missionary at Riverton FamilySearch Library.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
Laurel class president Kiri Case added, "Indexing is pretty addicting. You say, 'Maybe I can just get a couple of more names,' and you keep going and going. It's nice to know that you're doing something that's fun but also that's saving people."
There's some friendly competition involved, said Josh Moon, priests quorum first assistant, but also a great deal of cooperation. "We share our secrets and tips and stuff to get the indexing to be quicker and more efficient," he said.
Shaun Kirby, right, assistant deacons quorum adviser, helps son Caden, a new deacon, with indexing, while friend Ammon Oliphant looks on.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
Youth excursions to the library can also be a family affair, as shown by Travis Grant, family history consultant in the Oquirrh 2nd Ward, Riverton Utah Central Stake, who came with his wife, Sandy, their daughter Coeby and their son Ben. For them, it's a chance to access the assistance of knowledgeable family history missionaries and genealogy services that are available only at facilities such as the library.
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd
"We have access to the same patron desktop as the Family History Library in Salt Lake City," Sister Curley said, "with the same subscription websites available here as at the Salt Lake library."
Those premium subscription sites include Ancestry.com, Footnote.com, FindMyPast.com, The Genealogist, British Origins, Genline.com, the Godfrey Memorial Library, Heritage Quest and 19th century British and U.S. newspapers. Patrons are welcome to come and take a free tour of the library. Groups of fewer that eight people may come anytime without booking a reservation. Larger groups can register online for an appointment at .
