Step 1:
You will see a catalog entry that looks like this. Scroll down to the list of microfilms below.
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Step 2:
- Scroll down until you see a list of film notes with descriptions of what they contain.
- Look at the description on the far left column to help you decide which film you need. They may contain type of record, location and coverage years.
- Choose the one that best fits your research question.
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Step 3:
- Click the camera icon for the film you want to search to view its images.
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Step 4:
Use the icons in the top-left side of the image viewer to navigate.
- The arrows move you from on image to another
- The + and the – to zoom in and out of the images.
- Clicking on the tiles icon under the + and – will let you see a series of smaller images for the entire collection. This is a quick way to jump forward many images at a time.
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Step 5:
Find the correct item number by scrolling through the images looking for a title board in the film.
- This is usually a black page with white letters on it and is larger print than the record images.
- For a better view, click on an image to enlarge it.
- You can return to the thumbnail view by clicking the menu item in the top left corner with several squares on it.
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Step 6:
Review the first several images individually while they are enlarged for an index or instructions for how the records are organized.
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Step 7:
Move from one image to another using the arrows on the top left corner of the page.
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Step 8:
If there is no index at the beginning, check at the end of that film.
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Step 9:
If there is an index, try finding your ancestor in that index.
- They are usually in alphabetical order by last name. Sometimes all of the names that begin with A are grouped together and not in any order.
- Sometimes there is no order and you may have to look through the index one image at a time.
- If you are researching in the United States, United States Index Systems explains different styles of indexes.
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Step 10:
Once you find your ancestor in the index, you may have a page number and or a book number that tells you where their record is.
- Use the page numbers on the images (not the image numbers) to find them.
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Step 11:
Pay attention to whether the images contain two pages or one page when determining where the image you need may be.
- If the film you are looking at only includes the index, you will need to go to another film.
- Use the information in your ancestor's index entry to determine which film in the collection you will need.
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Step 12:
If there is no index, check several images to determine how they are organized.
- They may be in chronological order, alphabetical order or by order recorded.
- There may be no order.
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Step 13:
If the images don't seem to be in any particular order, you may need to do a page-by-page search of the images.
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Step 14:
To find more specific guidelines when searching a collection, see the “How to use this collection” article link on the collection page.
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