SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - 2,000 genealogists from around the nation gathered in downtown Salt Lake City today at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Conference to hear about the latest innovations in family history research from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

During his keynote address, Richard E. Turley, Jr., managing director of the Family and Church History Department, announced several products and services newly published or nearing completion: Vital Records Indexes for Western Europe, Mexico and Scandinavia, the 1880 United States Census, Personal Ancestral File in additional languages, and a face lift for the FamilySearch Internet web site.

In looking forward to the future of genealogical research and new technology, Turley said, "Buckle your seatbelts, and hang on tight."

Representatives from 453 organizations are meeting as part of the FGS Annual Conference to learn the latest in genealogical research, tools and services from experts in the field.

David Rencher, president of FGS says, "The best part about having the conference in Salt Lake City is those attending can learn a new technique and immediately apply it at the Family History Library." The Church has extended the Library’s hours from 6am to midnight through Friday to accommodate FGS visitors.

Rencher says the reaction to Turley’s announcements today was very positive and already requests are being received to ship the various products as soon as they become available.

• The Vital Records Indexes for Western Europe, Mexico and Scandinavia include birth, christening and marriage records. The index for Western Europe is being released today and includes 12.5 million records.

• The 1880 United States Census is a complete extraction and digital publication of the census. It has been in production for many years and represents the work of thousands of volunteers.

• Personal Ancestral File (PAF) 4.0 is currently available on disk in English, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese or as a free download from www.familysearch.org. The new 5.0 version of PAF will be available in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Swedish. PAF 5 also allows users to type information from essentially any language including Russian, Arabic, Hebrew and Korean.

• FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service 2.0 represents a new look and new capabilities for the website. The interface has been updated to allow for future growth to better accommodate translation into other languages, and to make features more visible to users.