Indexers from the Virgin Valley joined with others world-wide to set an international record for most records indexed in a twenty-four hour period. Indexing is a volunteer project started in 2006 by Family Search that creates researchable digital indexes for scanned images of historical documents. Millions of rolls of microfilm from 110 countries containing images of birth and death certificates, census records, marriage licenses, military and property records and other vital records are being indexed to allow the public to freely access this information in genealogical and family history research. Volunteer indexers install free software on their home computers, download images from the site, type the data they read from the image, and submit their work back to the site. This process allows an individual who wishes to research an ancestor to more quickly locate records for that name without having to search through hundreds or possibly thousands of records to locate an individual record.

Locally there are more than 800 residents of all ages engaged in this activity though not all participated in the record-breaking event which occurred between 5 p.m. Sunday, July 20 to 5 p.m. Monday, July 21. The final numbers internationally was 66,511 individual indexers had processed 5.7 million records.

International records may be set but work continues every day to make information available free of charge to the public that enables them to search out and create their own family trees. Anyone interested in learning how to access these records and find their ancestors can visit the Family Search Library located at 100 North Arrowhead Lane at the Mesquite Nevada Stake Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The hours are Monday 1-4 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. For information call 702-346-2342.