Vault films

> . . .I'm curious about vault films.. are there films that can only be seen
> by going to Salt Lake in person? Does this mean they are not listed online
> in family search?

ALL the geneaolgy films are listed in the catalog found on familyseaerch
along with where they can be found:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp. Copies of
ALL the films can be viewed by patrons in their local Family History Centers
without having to travel to SLC.

The vault refers to a huge storage area in SLC hewn out of a granite
mountain where the temperature is constant and the elements are kept at bay
in order to preserve the films. This is where all the master copies of the
genealogy films owned by the LDS church are stored.

When a film is requested by a patron, a copy is made and sent to the main
library in SLC where it remins -- or the local Family History Center if that
is who made the request, and after three renewals the film will remain in
the local center on indefinite loan as well. I suspect the three renewals
pay for the cost of duplicating the film.

In some cases no one has ever asked to use a film so a copy has never been
made to be viewed and the only copy is the master copy in the vault. Hence
it takes a few days to receive a film from the vault, and if you only have a
few days at the library, it can really impact your visit when the films
aren't available.

If you look at the familysearch website, it will tell you whether the films
are in the vault, which means no copies are available in the library.
However, as Josie mentioned, you can request that a copy be sent to the
library before making the trip.

Hope this helps.

~Deena~