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Thank you for your interest in volunteering for the OntarioGenWeb Census Project! I don’t live in Ontario, can I volunteer? Yes! What do we expect from a volunteer? There is no time limit, but we expect a volunteer to complete what they have volunteered for in an expedient manner. More information regarding what is expected with regards to each task can be found elsewhere on this page. How much time do I have to commit? How much time do you want to commit? A specific time commitment isn’t required. If you can only spare an hour or two a week, great! An hour or two a month, great! Our focus is on results, not on the amount of time spent achieving those results. Every little bit each volunteer contributes is greatly appreciated regardless of how much time was involved. Every little bit completed is one more step towards our goal of providing you as many free Ontario census transcripts as possible. Is it easy? It can be. It really depends on which census you choose and how much of a challenge you enjoy. Some are very easy and quick to do. Others can be challenging and take months to complete. Either way each one is a huge accomplishment and appreciated by the genealogical community! What should I do, if I signed up, but can not fulfil my obligation? It is very important that volunteers are sure, before they volunteer because once someone signs up to transcribe or proofread a census it becomes unavailable for anyone else to volunteer to do. As soon as you know you are unable to fulfill your obligation contact the Volunteer Coordinator so we can release the census for someone else. Do you provide copies of the Census? No, but there are exceptions. If a copy of a census has been provided by a Copy Volunteer, this copy will be provided to the transcriber and/or proofreader and listed as a “Volunteer From Home” census. If a census does not have this designation, we do not provide copies. Where/How do I obtain the census to transcribe/proofread? If a census is not designated as “Volunteer From Home” you will have to obtain the census from microfilm by visiting your local library or LDS Family History centre. For more questions about volunteering, please read our handbooks The process of putting a census transcript online is a "CHAIN OF EVENTS". It takes several volunteers and several steps to obtain the goal of getting ONE transcript online. Our ultimate goal is to transcribe ALL of Ontario census records and make them available online for FREE! With your help we can reach this goal! Join Our Web Team! Join our Census Team! Volunteer From Home If you 'Sign Up' and don't get a response from the Volunteer Coordinator within 7 days, please contact the Volunteer Coordinator. Without the members of our Census Team this website would not be possible! It is from the hard work of these volunteers that we are able to offer free online census transcripts. Join this hard-working team and contribute to the genealogical community! Our census team consists of: Transcribers Proofreaders Inputters Copiers Information Seekers Students! Volunteer as part of our Census Team to earn some of your community service volunteer hours. Transcriber: A "transcriber" is a person who "extracts" data from original census microfilm or microfiche and writes the information onto paper templates or inputs the information into computer using one of the template formats provided by OGW. You will have to send this transcription to a proofreader via the Volunteer Coordinator by email or post. Requirements: Access to census microfilm and/or the 1901/1911 census images available online from Library & Archives Canada Ability to read & decipher handwriting FAQ: How do I transcribe a census? By copying a census page word for word. For a DETAILED description of transcribing, please see: Transcriber's Handbook and Checklist: HTML Format; PDF Format To volunteer to be a transcriber, click on 'Sign Up Now' below, choose the County/District you're interested in, then the year, then any township/town/village listed as 'Transcriber Needed', and fill out the sign-up form. For more questions about volunteering, please read our handbooks Proofreader: A "proofreader" is person who "verifies" or double-checks a transcription that a transcriber has extracted onto paper templates or into a computer file. Generally we request that the Proofreader be the Inputter if the transcription is on paper. Requirements: Access to census microfilm and/or the 1901/1911 census images available online from Library & Archives Canada Ability to read & decipher handwriting FAQ: How do I proofread a census? By checking the transcript against the original census image for errors. For a DETAILED description of proofreading, please see: Proofreader's Handbook and Checklist: HTML Format; PDF For more questions about volunteering, please read our handbooks Inputter: An "inputter" is a person who takes a handwritten transcript and types it into the computer. For the most part we don't have need for an inputter but if this is a task that might interest you please contact the Volunteer Coordinator and you will be placed on our volunteer list and contacted if an inputting task becomes available. Requirements: Ability to read & decipher handwriting Ability to type Mailing address – the transcriber will have to send you the transcript via post Copiers: A "copier" is a person who is willing to copy a census from microfilm/fiche and send it to another volunteer for transcribing. Several libraries and research centres now have the ability for genealogists to save microfilm images to CD or e-mail. If your research centre has this ability PLEASE consider volunteering to copy at least one census area. We do not need copiers for the census years 1851, 1901 or 1911. Copiers are needed for all other census years though! Requirements: Access to census microfilm Unfortunately at this time we CANNOT reimburse the copier for any costs involved in copying or postage. But we will credit each photocopier for their contribution by posting their name on the finished transcript. Please DO NOT copy a transcript (this would be illegal). Copy only microfilm images. To volunteer to be a copier, click on 'Sign Up Now' below, choose the County/District you're interested in, then the year, then any township/town/village listed as 'Transcriber Needed', fill out the form and in the comments box specify that you would like to COPY ONLY. Or just contact the Volunteer Co-Ordinator with the county, year & area you would like to copy. Information Seekers: A "information seeker" is a person who is willing to view census microfilm/fiche to obtain specific information regarding the census (such as # of pages, # of people per census area, name of enumeration district, etc) Requirements: Access to census microfilm For a DETAILED description of info seeking, please see: Infoseeker's Handbook: HTML Format; PDF Format For more questions about volunteering, please read our handbooks Volunteers and Visitors keep our Web Team hopping and we're always in need of new team members. Our web team consists of: HTML Volunteers Excel Volunteers Promoters HTML Volunteers: We are not currently seeking HTML Volunteers. Keep checking back though! Excel Volunteers: We are not currently seeking Excel Volunteers. Keep checking back though! Promoters: A promoter is a person who gets the word out about this website! We’re so busy getting things online that we often forget to “advertise” what we currently have available. The more who know about this site = more potential volunteers who will contribute to getting more transcripts online. How it works: When we add new transcripts, requests, etc it's your job to get the word out! E-mail friends, family and any genealogy/Ontario related mailing lists/newsgroups you subscribe to, blog it, post it, etc. Please be sure NOT to spam the information - we want to invite new visitors, not offend! Send out individual e-mails, not one enmass. What's In It For You: It's two-fold... You're the first to learn what we've added to the website as you will be e-mailed when the site is updated. And, as mentioned above, more visitors = more potential volunteers = a greater chance the census you need to see will be transcribed! Requirements: Enthusiasm! We have many volunteer positions available that you can do entirely from home BUT, if you’d be willing to leave home and visit a library (in Canada) or an LDS Family History Centre (worldwide) we would appreciate your assistance in that capacity. Only three census years (1851, 1901, 1911) are fully available to be transcribed from home. The rest are available only on microfilm and in order to get these census years transcribed we need volunteers who are willing to transcribe from microfilm, or willing to copy a census for another volunteer to transcribe. At Home volunteer positions include: Transcribers of the 1851, 1901 & 1911 census, and the occasional copied census (see what’s currently available) Proofreaders of the 1851, 1901 & 1911 census, and the occasional copied census (see what’s currently available) Inputters HTML Volunteers Excel Volunteers Promoters Special thanks to Terry for converting the PDF files!