Thursday, September 29, 2016

[UVTAGG] Press Release for UVTAGG meeting Saturday morning, 08 Oct 2016, Provo

2016-09-29

Journalists and newsletter editors, please run this as a news item and/or in your calendar of events. For a shorter version please show the main speaker and topic, give the UVTAGG websites, and say there are classes at all levels of genealogy.  If you need further information, please email me.  Thanks.
Don Snow -- snowd@math.byu.edu   
[UVTAGG] Press Release for UVTAGG meeting Saturday morning, 08 Oct 2016, Provo

The next meeting of the UVTAGG (Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group - Formerly the Utah Valley PAF Users Group) will be on Saturday, 08 Oct 2016, from 9 am to noon in the LDS "Red Chapel", 4050 North Timpview Drive (650 East), Provo. The main presentation at this month's meeting will be by D. Michael Hansen on FAMILYSEARCH BOOK SCANNING.  FamilySearch has built a library of over 300,000 genealogy, family history, and local history books online, including public domain and copyrighted works. This collection is available to view for free at  https://books.familysearch.org/ .  If you have ever wanted to know about the FamilySearch Books, how to get books scanned by FamilySearch for free, or how to become a book scanning missionary at one of the 15 United States book scanning centers, this is the presentation for you.  D. Michael Hansen is the FamilySearch Book Scanning Operations Manager.  He recently moved to Utah from Rochester, New York, with a Masters Degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in Print Media, specializing in imaging science and color science.  Since 2001, Michael has been involved in digital imaging projects for museums and libraries and has a special interest in multispectral imaging projects where handwriting is faded or illegible.  Since 2008, Michael has consulted with libraries and archives on mass digitization projects and is excited about the direction FamilySearch is taking to make its book collection freely available and accessible to the public.  He lives in Payson, Utah, with his wife and four children.

After the main presentation the following classes are scheduled.  See the UVTAGG website and blog for last minute changes and additions.

(1)  Michael Hansen, Q&A on FamilySearch Book Scanning
(2)  Laurie Castillo, Multitasking 101: Family History While You Sleep
(3)  Don Engstrom and John Blake, Ask An Expert (Personal Help)
(4)  Audio recording of last month's main presentation by Jay and Sylvia Newitt on THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PROVO CITY CENTER TEMPLE
(5)  Terri Tyler, RootsMagic
(6)  Gaylon Findlay, Ancestral Quest

The UVTAGG meetings have something for everyone, no matter what their level of family history expertise.  This includes youth, those just getting interested in genealogy, long-time genealogists, and ward family history consultants.  This is the regular second-Saturday-of-the-month meeting and all meetings of UVTAGG are open to the public, whether members of the Group or not.  The Group has the goal of helping individuals use technology to further their family history and there are usually 70-80 people attending the monthly meetings, many of whom are family history consultants. 

Information about the Group, meeting location, current and past presentations, classes, and class notes are available on their website  http://uvtagg.org  and the press release blog  http://blog.uvtagg.org .  On the blog you can subscribe to receive emails of the press releases when they are posted the week before the meetings.  The officers are Gerhard Ruf, President; Laurie Castillo, 1st VP; Don Snow, 2nd VP; Eileen Phelps, Newsletter Editor; Don Engstrom and Rayanne Melick, Membership and Finances; Bruce Merrill and Marie Andersen, DVD Library; and Chris Stevenson, Rick Klemetson, and Rick Wightman, Webmasters.  Several of these will be at the meeting to answer questions, help with membership, distribute the current issue of the monthly newsletter TAGGology, and check out and sell to members of the Group DVDs of past presentations and classes.  Membership includes many benefits such as being able to purchase the inexpensive presentation and class DVDs, receiving the monthly newsletter TAGGology (via email, if requested), and access to many genealogy resources through the UVTAGG's membership in the Federation of Genealogical Societies.  The online dues are only $10 on a calendar year basis and gift memberships and DVDs make great presents for family history-minded relatives, friends, and family history consultants.  See more information and how to join the group on the websites above.  You can also contact President Gerhard Ruf at  pres@uvtagg.org   (801-225-6106), or 1st VP Laurie Castillo at  gengal@comcast.net   , or 2nd VP Don Snow at  snowd@math.byu.edu  .

Don Snow, 2nd VP of Utah Valley Technology and Genealogy Group (UVTAGG), snowd@math.byu.edu 

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