Learning Blog 4 – “Vaults and procrastination”

It would be really great if i could say, "guess what, i found someone in my husband's family line." Maybe next week....

This week I learned an important lesson about procrastination.  I've talked the talk but haven't walked the walk. We all knew that I needed to make a trip downtown to the Family History Center.  The problem has been trying to figure out when I could go.  I'm pretty sure that many of us have the same problem.  It doesn't make sense for me to go home in Sandy, UT and then drive back north to downtown Salt Lake, so the obvious solution is to go to the Family History Center right after work.  I couldn't go on Saturday because I was out of town.  I conveniently put off going until this evening.  I had the great idea that I could go to the center find someone and then come home and write about it. 

Allow me to first show you a couple pictures:

 These are pictures of the Granite Mountain Records Vault.  I like to refer to it as "The Vault" (using an authoritative voice).  It contains the largest collection of genealogical records in the world! It contains over 3.5 billion images on microfilm, microfiche, and digital media! (If you want a video tour of the vault go here.) The only problem is that the Colombian microfilm that I need is found in "The Vault" and hasn't been digitized yet. I had to order it and it won't be here until Monday or Tuesday.  

Let this be a lesson to all: DON"T PROCRASTINATE! 

Here's the good news.  I did learn a better way to find microfilm that i need by using the family search website.  It only took me 10 minutes to learn because an "expert" sat next to me. As I sat down at a computer this 19 year old missionary, holding a dowel with an eraser on top, pointed on the screen and said things like:

"Click here." (as he pointed with his stick)

"Now click here."

"Type Colombia."

"Click on the county."

"Now click on the city."

"Ohhhh, yep, the ones you need are in The Vault."

The good thing is that I know what to do online now and can order materials from home and then have them there when I show up at the Family History Center. He taught me how to think about what years I need based on the birth of children.  Next week I'm gong to learn how to look at microfilm I'm pretty excited.  

In our readings we read about how experts learn to make sense of everything around them and recognize patterns. The family search website has previously been hard me to figure out how to search in their catalog. After sitting with someone that has being doing it over and over and over (an expert) it began to make so much more sense.  I'm thankful that someone knew what they were doing and were able to help me see the patterns and connections.  Maybe one day I will be the expert with a stick pointing and saying "click here".  :)