Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, January 12-16, 2009

I have received a couple of questions asking me to explain the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG). An institute is not the same as a seminar or conference which may have multiple individual sessions from which to choose. An institute, such as SLIG, has five (5) full days of learning. Registrants choose one five-day course and attend all the sessions that course offers. It's not a pick and choose for each hour. One of the advantages is getting to know your fellow registrants and the instructors better, thus allowing for better learning, networking, and Q&A time. Registrants come from all over the U.S. and some from Canada.

Each course has twenty (20) total hours of sessions. I coordinate and teach in an intermediate level course titled American Records and Research: Focusing on Localities.

In this course we have 22 hours for the same fee as the other courses. There are 16 hours of classroom instruction and 6 hours of Family History Library Lab. During those FHL hours, three of your instructors are on hand to give tours of the FHL, for one-on-one consultations, or whatever assistance you need during that FHL Lab time. Need to learn how to use the technological equipment, how to make a good copy from a microfilm or transfer it to a flash drive or CD? Does one branch of your family stymie you more than others? Need to become acquainted with the library catalog or the in-house finding aids? This is the course to help you with that. I am one of those consultants and am joined by Birdie Monk Holsclaw, CG, and D. Joshua Taylor, both of whom were great consultants in 2008.

Other in-the-classroom instructors are John Philip Colletta, PhD, Thomas W. Jones, CG, J. Mark Lowe, CG, and Kory L. Meyerink, AG. This assemblage of instructors is reason enough for taking the course. Add the lectures, syllabus, and library consultations and you have an exceptional week.

This 2009 course alternates in the even years with "Focus on Families" which has completely different class sessions.

If you have any questions about this course, please don't hesitate to contact me at PaulaStuartWarren@gmail.com. Visit the Utah Genealogical Association's website to learn about all the courses and individual classes. All have excellent coordinators and instructors. Online registration is easy. See you in January in SLC where the weather is never bad enough to stop genealogists. SLC sidewalks are amazingly clear for walking.

Register by October 30th and save $25.00 off the full price. Check out the list of evening classes that SLIG offers, too. These can be taken individually.

See you in SLC!