Bygdebøker are made searchable at Familysearch.org.
Going to the FamilySearch.com webpage “Search Genealogies” you can search family trees submitted by users based on Norwegian bygdebøker.
The website states: Genealogies are trees submitted to FamilySearch that can help you fill out your family lines within Family Tree. Accuracy of the data in these genealogies varies from tree to tree; we encourage you to validate all data.
These “trees” are developed by using Norwegian bygdebøker, while checking these against other sources, thus linking all the families in the village together in “community trees”.
For now they are done with 40 books, but when they are completely finished it will be 410.
To search you must enter here: Search genealogies. Bottom left is a BLUE button. Press the “All” and then “Community Trees” and you can begin your search.
“Community Trees” can be interesting, but as I have pointed out in my article about bygdebøker, there are several conditions that may introduce errors in these books. When transcibing the books into Familysearch’s database, we add another condition that may introduce errors. If you use some of the information you find in the “community trees” you need to check them with primary sources. I have used bygdebøker a lot in my own research, but I use them only to draw up an outline. As I have checked the information I have found in primary sources (Church records etc.) I have found several errors in the bygdebøker.
I wish they had kept the bygdebok-project in the old format as it showed more of the family relations. The new format is sort of not to helpful at all. I had a discussion with people at Familysearch about this in Salt Lake City this February when I was there for a week, and they actually agreed with me, but they have to do what the bosses say….