A contribution from Michael Palmer, USA:
Many churches permitted the Family History Library in Salt Lake City to make microfilm copies of their registers specifically so that genealogical researchers could use these microfilms and not distract the incumbents from their pastoral duties with genealogical requests. I can tell you from my experience in England that an incumbent who has permitted the FHL to microfilm the registers in his/her custody can become very irate when (s)he continues to receive requests for information from the original registers. In one instance in which I had to "run intereference" between an incumbent and a genealogist, the pastor was so furious that he threatened to rescind his permission for the FHL to make available the microfilms of the registers of his church. Fortunately, the bishop was able to restore calm, but I can assure you that after that incident we never, ever gave out the address of an incumbent whose registers were available on microfilm at the FHL. Perhaps you can place a note at the beginning of these pages reminding researchers to check first whether microfilm copies of the registers are available through the Family History Library. If the church registers are available on microfilm, the researcher should *always* consult these; researchers should contact the appropriate church archive only if the registers are *not* available on microfilm, or if the microfilm copy of a register page is unclear (in which case, the researcher should include a "hard copy" of the page in question).
Michael Palmer
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