Question about reliable IGI results when using Family Search

Question

I am about to use the search of the IGI at Family Search here:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/igi

It is my understanding that a user contributed record to the IGI is of questionable reliability whereas an extracted record was taken directly from parish records. The choices for the search are "Community Contributed" and "Community Indexed." Are the "Community Indexed" results the extracted records? 

Answer 1

If can find the Parish and Vital Records Index, this will list those films that were extracted for the IGI. This was on microfiche, and available in the various FHCs. The Centers have generally gotten rid of this, but a few still have it. Some parts have been posted online in various forms.

This index would give the catalog numbers of the extracted films, and was a significant aid to IGI searches. It still has a bit of utility, but not very much.

This has been rendered pretty much obsolete by the current FamilySearch catalog which tells you if a film is only film, or extracted/indexed and digitized. From the catalog is has become easy to search a specific film, if extracted, but just clicking on the magnifying glass icon.

Comments

Thank you, George. I still have so much to learn about citations, films, transcriptions, indexing, catalogs, databases...all of these were foreign terms to me before I came here and I'm a rookie still with Family Search. I want to make sure I find the best legit sources. Everyone here has been super helpful!

Answer 2

Just above the search box it lists the two types and if you click on the arrows to the left it gives the following information -

 "Community Contributed IGI (Personal family information submitted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

 For a short period of time duplication in the IGI was reduced by removing records from the indexed data when these records were submitted by the community. To do an exhaustive search for your ancestor you should choose to search the Community Contributed IGI and follow the process outlined on the Family Search Wiki IGI page to determine if the record you find was part of an indexed collection.

 Community Indexed IGI (Vital and church records from the early 1500s to 1885)

The indexed data has been organized into the original collections from which it was transcribed and resides in the Historical Records system. To see a list of all collections available choose Browse All Published Collections from the home screen. The Community Indexed search from this page searches ONLY the records that were part of the old IGI. Most of these collections have had many more records added to them. To do an exhaustive search for your ancestors you should choose to use the search form on the home screen."

Comments

Thanks so much, Samantha!