Computers & Scanners

Doing Family History takes equipment, and we have it!

Printing

Printers are available in our Center to support temple and family history work and research. We ensure responsible use of resources and equal access for all guests by limiting printing to 20 pages per visit. This printing limit does not include temple ordinance cards, but we do ask that guests print three ordinances cards per page. Exceptions must be approved by the FamilySearch center coordinator.

Our Center is not intended to function as public printing or copy center for personal, business, school, commercial, or other purposes. Guests are encouraged to save and share documents electronically whenever possible. Staff are available to help guests identify digital alternatives when appropriate and encourage effective use of available electronic resources.

Guests are welcome to make photocopies that comply with local copyright law.  The copyright law of the United States (Title 17 U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.  Guests using the Center's printers and other resources are liable for any infringement.  Please refer to the guidelines in this article to determine if items are protected by copyright.  If you have questions, call the Church Intellectual Property Office, 1-801-240-3959.  

Computer Media & Other Hardware

We have the ability to access the following types of media:

    • Media cards
          • Secure Digital (SD)
          • miniSD
          • CompactFlash (Type I/II)
          • MultiMediaCard (MMC)
          • RS-MMC
          • Memory Stick (MS, PRO, Duo, PRO Duo)
          • SmartMedia
          • xD-Picture Card
    • 3.5” Floppy disc
    • CD/DVD discs

We also have the following:

    • Webcams
    • USB-A ports
    • USB-C ports

Personal Laptops

You are welcome to bring your own personal laptop to the Center.  You can connect to the Wi-Fi by following the steps in the article, Connecting to Meetinghouse Internet (Liahona).  While connected to the Liahona Wi-Fi, you can access the Premium Websites by installing the Premium Content browser extension.  The Center staff can assist with this if you need help.

USB Flash Drives

If you plan on using the scanners or otherwise dealing with files at the Center, we recommend using an online cloud storage provider (e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox) or a USB flash drive.  

When purchasing a USB flash drive, please consider the following:

Where To Buy
We recommend only purchasing reputable brands (PNY, SanDisk, Samsung, Kingston, Corsair) from major stores (e.g. Walmart, Smiths, Target, Best Buy).  Many counterfeit drives are sold through Amazon, Ebay and other online retailers.  These drives use inferior hardware and/or use tricks to falsify their reported capacity, making them appear to be much larger than they actually are.  Click here for more information.

Size
If you are buying a new drive, we recommend a flash drive size of 8GB or larger.

Speed
USB drive speeds vary by generation:
    • USB 2.0: These drives are slower, but are much cheaper
    • USB 3.0 - 3.2: At least 10x faster when plugged into a high-speed USB port (often marked with a different color, such as blue)

Format
Flash drives can have different formats.  These are the two most common, and work on both Windows and Mac:
    • exFAT: Most new flash drives come formatted with this format.  It allows files larger than 4GB.
    • FAT32: This is the most universal format, working on almost every device, including old computers and TV's.  Individual files are limited to 4GB.