Basics of accessing from your home town the vast records from the 
Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Family History Library (FHL) has teams of people across the world microfilming records. These include births, christenings, marriages, divorces, local histories, biographies, genealogies, cemeteries, land records, court records, immigration/emigration records, and much more.  These records are available to the public for genealogical or family history research on rolls of microfilm or sheets of microfiche through the thousands of Family History Centers (FHC) around the world. The following is how to access those records there in your own town.  In this example we will use the website and look for the 1841 census in Wigtown, Scotland

1. A given census, birth register, marriage log, etc.  may have taken hundreds or thousands of rolls of  microfilm. To narrow down your selection. There is an index to the materials that the Family History Library (FHL)  has it is called the Family History Library Catalog (FHLC).  Think of it as a computerized card catalog.  It can be searched either
   1. at any local Family History Center, 
   2. at the  Family History Library in Salt Lake City, 
   3. using the FHLC  CD in our home which can be purchased from the LDS Distribution Center  for about $5,  or 
   4. on the FamilySearch website: http://familysearch.org/
2. For this example we will assume we use the website.
   Go to the FamilySearch website http://familysearch.org/
3. Once there click on the words "Search the Family History Library Catalog for records and resources", 
   these words are at the right of the screen
4. Click on the "Place Search" button
5. For our example, enter the word "SCOTLAND" in the field after the word Place, hit the Search button
6. A list of places with the name SCOTLAND in them will appear. Among them would be just "Scotland". Click on it.
7. Then we will see the categories or topics of the records that are available for Scotland.
   There will be several topics regarding each census. The list may go on for pages and pages.
    Since we are looking for the Census in 1841 we will click on "View Next Set of Matching Topics" several times.
   That means go to the next page.
8. Continue until we find "Scotland - Census - 1841", click on it.
9. Here we find several sub-topics. Including "Census Returns of  Scotland for 1841", 
   the census we are interested in. Click on those words.
10. We will see that there are 156 rolls of microfilm for that year's census of Scotland.
    In the upper right corner is a button labeled "View Film Notes" click on this button.
11. The rolls are organized by locality.  So we page through the list looking for the place we are interested in.
    This is done by clicking on "Next film notes" at the bottom of the page until reaching Wigtown, Scotland
12. There are two entries for Wigtown Scotland, this is because it all did not fit on one roll of film.
    The information there reads:
              Wigtown, No. 885-893    FHL British Film 101940
              Wigtown, No. 894-901    FHL British Film 101941
    The 6 digit numbers are the number of the microfilm with the information on it.
    Copy this information down or print off the page.
13. Take the information on the films to a Local Family History Center (FHC). 
14. We can find the closest one by using the FamilySearch website
    1. Go to  http://familysearch.org/ and 
    2. Click on "Find a Family History Center near you ..."
    3. Enter the information on your city, county, state, and country and hit search.
    4. This will give us the address, phone number, and hours of operation.
       It is a good idea to call before make the trip especially if it is a long trip at all.
       Remember these centers are run by volunteers who may have emergencies come up
       and result in them having to close the center for awhile.
15. On at the FHC, see if they have those films on hand, if may not be likely but it is always worth checking.
16. If they do not have those films on hand, we can get the films on-loan from Salt Lake City.
    You are asked to cover the postage costs which are about $4 (in the USA) per roll.
17.  In one or more weeks, you will be contacted by the staff of the local FHC to let you know that those films have arrived.
18. The films can not be taken from the FHC but we can go there during their open hours and read them with a film reader machine.  Many centers also have a special printer so you can print off the page of your family.
19. Eventually the films will be returned to Salt Lake, so it is best to not order to many at one time.
    You want enough time to get through them before they are sent back. The center's staff can discuss when that would be.

Note that the microfilms from Salt Lake City are not the only resource in a Family History Center.
While what they have may at any particular FHC will vary to some extent they should all have 
computerized databases, books, maps, etc. that should also be used in your research.