Annual/Yearbook Indexer
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Supervisor: Kathy M.L. Evavold, Virtual Volunteer Program Manager, Curator of Collections/Archivist and Vicky Anderson, Library Assistant
Objective: To create an index to the students pictured and/or mentioned in the various county school district annuals/yearbooks.
Benefit to the Public: This index will become immediately available to staff, onsite researchers who use our library, and guests who visit us on the Internet. The index will be free through our website. The index will increase access to these materials and make retrieval of materials more efficient for staff. The index will offer greater access to our records and collections to anyone using our website.
Benefit to our Organization: This index will allow our staff to better serve researchers who make inquiries over the phone, via e-mail and our website, as well as onsite visitors. It will also allow the historical society to earn income when a researcher elects to purchase a copy of the original materials. This will help the Otter Tail County Historical Society earn income now and into the future.
Responsibilities: While looking at original material provided by the historical society (in PDF format), the volunteer will enter the pertinent data into the correct fields (cells) thus creating a searchable database. The volunteer will use the guidelines provided by the historical society to enter the data in the appropriate format and will refer any questions to the Virtual Volunteer Project Manager or a previously assigned volunteer task manager.
Qualifications: An interest in creating research tools to assist genealogical and local history researchers. Must have good written communication skills. Willingness to ask for assistance and/or clarification when necessary and questions as they arise. Must have access to a personal computer with Internet access. Possess the ability to work a set number of hours per week. Must be an accurate typist and pay attention to detail so the things are properly indexed. Be committed to answering e-mails quickly and stick with a project through to completion. Enjoy working independently. See Also: “What qualities make for a good online volunteer?” under Frequently Asked Questions.
Training: Read through our Virtual Volunteer Handbook. Once a signed Volunteer Agreement Form has been returned to the Virtual Volunteer Program Manager, the Program Manager will contact the volunteer by e-mail or telephone to discuss the volunteer position(s) and answer any questions. If approved, the volunteer will receive a copy of the task guidelines for a particular task. Once this is read through they should contact the Project Manger to let Him/Her know that they wish to begin work. At that time the Project Manager will assign the volunteer with a task and directions on how to begin.
Requirements: Before any work begins, all virtual volunteers must have their own personal computer, Internet access and Adobe Acrobat Reader software [Windows/Mac] and/or Preview for Mac. They must read through and agree to the materials found in the Volunteer Handbook. They must sign and return a Volunteer Application. Possess the ability to communicate with Project Manger during regular business hours of the Historical Society. We strongly encourage all volunteers of the historical society to also be members of the historical society.
Otter Tail County Historical Society
1110 Lincoln Avenue West
Fergus Falls, Minnesota 56537
(218) 736-6038