The LDS Church is shedding some new light on its long-popular familysearch.org online genealogy database. It seems that the conversion of its massive vault of microfilmed records is going so well, much of the collection may be readily accessible in as little as 10 years. Also this month, the LDS church announced that another of its databases (Pedigree Resource File) has grown to contain 150 million names.

There are billions of names preserved on the vault records that are being turned into digital images for eventual indexing and viewing online. The process of digitizing the microfilm is now faster than ever through a “bleeding edge” technology system called FamilySearch™ Scanning.

At the rate they were going prior to the FamilySearch Scanning technology, it was estimated that it would take 120 years to convert applicable films to digital. That same projection is now less than 30 years, perhaps sooner with planned expansions of additional scanners. The team that couldn’t fathom living to see the end result will now be the team that will someday complete the digitizing process. Film and microfiche will continue to be stored in the vault, even after their digital conversion.

But the vault where the digital images are stored is for the most part empty (One DVD can hold up to 4 digitized microfilms). A few short cabinets hold what’s been converted so far, and the expansiveness of the room whispers of a future when it will be filled. When that day comes, most members will be able to access the digital images of the films anywhere they have Internet access—from their homes or local Family History Center—through the Church’s genealogical Web site, http://www.familysearch.org; and the vault staff won’t be bundling in their coats as often to retrieve fiche and film.