Volunteer Opportunities

Support for monthly meetings

Two or three people are needed to become part of a rotation to act as online hosts for our monthly meetings. Duties include:

• Joining the Zoom meeting at 8:15 a.m. on the morning of the meeting to assist with a sound check, ensuring that those online can hear what is happening in the room and that those in the room can hear what is happening online, as needed
• Admitting online participants into the meeting
• Acting as a conduit for questions that online participants have for the speakers
• Training available; possibility of working in a support role with the existing hosts

Time commitment: approximately 3.5 hours per occasion.

Volunteers are needed to be part of a rotation to assist with snacks and coffee at the monthly meeting. Duties include:              

• Placing the snacks on serving trays, and refilling as needed
• Boiling water for tea
• Ensuring coffee carafes are filled.
• Putting out cream, milk and sugar
• Assisting with clean-up in the kitchen following the meeting

Time Commitment: 3.5 hours per occasion.                                                                            

Coordinator: Program director (Marianne Rasmus)

Production Assistant Duties

Assist the lead production manager/producer in setting up and running all the parts needed for a hybrid meeting. This includes all or part of:

1. Running a Zoom meeting: setting up proper settings for participants and co-hosts, admitting participants, monitoring chat for problems from co-hosts or participants, running PowerPoint shows or videos if necessary; ensuring there are no disruptions in the room and online from Zoom participants, monitor numbers attending on Zoom and in the room
2. Setting up and operating sound equipment for the room and the feed to Zoom by ensuring the correct mics are on and those not in use are off, setting volume levels and other mixing board effects as needed
3. Setting up video camera in the room to feed to Zoom and the in-room screen when required and operating the camera to show the various points in the room where people are talking (speaker, host, audience)
4. Setting up and ensuring the various computers (generally three) in use are wired in correctly to feed the room and Zoom meeting and the various PowerPoint presentations run smoothly from the presenter computer
5. In the absence of the lead producer, update the computer software monthly (before the meeting), load all the Power Point presentations to the producer computer as back up
6. Assist with tear-down following the meeting ensuring everything is packed properly and returned to its proper place in the cabinet
7. Sometimes monitoring the Zoom meeting on a separate device to ensure all is running smoothly

If there are two people working production, tasks are divided during the meeting so one person doesn’t have to run everything. Generally one person monitors the Zoom meeting and visuals while the other monitors and operates the sound system.

Procedures and protocols are in place to follow for set-up, operating and tear-down. And, of course, there will be training and assistance from the current members of the team.

Outreach events

BIFHSGO participates in Fairs, Conferences, and various other gatherings along with Public Libraries, Historical, Heritage, or Genealogy organizations.   The type of participation varies depending on the event.  So far in 2023, BIFHSGO has attended the Historical Society of Ottawa Heritage Day and the Ottawa Public Library Day.   Volunteers will be essential to the successful representation of BIFHSGO at these events.  More details will be posted as the events are identified and our participation is confirmed.

Time commitment: 2-3 hours per event

Coordinator: Outreach Director (Patricia Grainger)

Transcribe RG 76 Home Child records

Continue the transcription and verification of Library and Archives Canada (LAC) immigration records from the RG 76 record group that have been microfilmed, digitized, and published online via Heritage Canadiana.

Project Details

In 2006, BIFHSGO signed a Memorandum of Understanding with LAC to index records from the RG 76 record group and related collections. BIFHSGO volunteers have worked on this project since that time by transcribing records and verifying data from government files. As records are indexed, data is sent to LAC for uploading into their Home Children database. Along with volunteer work on RG 17, BIFHSGO’s RG 76 volunteers are responsible for providing thousands of record entries on individual home children to the LAC database. This data is also made available to the public through BIFHSGO’s Name Index. Volunteer indexing on RG 76 files is ongoing.

Specific tasks

• Using a template, index each assigned file with information on individual home children.
• A guide, procedures, spreadsheet templates, and training support are provided.
• Knowledge of spreadsheet software, an asset.
• No specific deadlines: volunteers work from home on assigned files.

Project lead: Research Director (Sue Lambeth)

Index files compiled by John Sayers (BIFHSGO Home Children Project Coordinator) from 1995 to June 2023

This is a new project to create inventories for two sets of files compiled by John Sayers related to his work as BIFHSGO’s Project Leader and Coordinator for British Home Children projects.

Project Details

In June 2023, John Sayers stepped down from his role as BIFHSGO’s Home Children Project Coordinator. From 1995, for over 38 years, John worked tirelessly as a volunteer on behalf of BIFHSGO gathering research, disseminating information, and managing volunteer projects. In his role as project leader, John Sayers managed volunteer initiatives to commemorate the history and lives of home children through plaques, exhibits, and monuments such as the Hazelbrae Memorial in Peterborough, which lists the names of 10,000 children. For over 25 years, John supervised volunteers who indexed records for LAC’s Home Children database and BIFHSGO’s Name Index. John personally responded to over 1000 queries about individual children, and he also supported the work of David and Kay Lorente - and others - who worked to tell the story of home children and their lives. This collection consists of two types of paper files: individual query files organized by the name of the child; and research files and supporting records gathered for project work. The purpose of the project is to prepare inventory lists of these two sets of files. The collection consists of 26 boxes of files (26 lineal feet), which are stored at the City of Ottawa Archives.

Specific Tasks

• Using a template, index each file from an assigned box.
• A guide, procedures, spreadsheet templates, and training support will be provided.
• Knowledge of spreadsheet software, an asset.
• No specific deadlines: volunteers will work in the City of Ottawa Archives Reading Room on assigned paper files. These files cannot be removed from the Archives.

Project lead: Research Director (Sue Lambeth)

Indexes for BIFHSGO website

Project Details

BIFHSGO has many videos of past presentations and back issues of the quarterly journal Anglo-Celtic Roots (ACR), on the members area of its website (ACR issues more than 5 years old available outside the paywall).  They are posted by year and the current indexes do not provide any information on topics/themes. The title of the presentation or article does not always reflect the topic or theme of the content.    

Partial indexes are already available outside the paywall. This project will consist of completing and expanding these indexes. This will make it easier for BIFHSGO members to find both videos and ACR back issues and might entice non-members to join BIFHSGO to view them.

Specific Tasks

• Using a template supplied, compile for each video presentation or ACR back issue information on the speaker/author, title, date and topic and/or theme (e.g. immigration, geographic area)
• Knowledge of spreadsheet software, an asset
• Volunteers must be BIFHSGO members to access the videos; some volunteers must be BIFHSGO members to access recent ACR issues
  
• Training will be available
  
• Time required: hours as you have available, working alone or with others until the index is complete

Project coordinator: Webmanager (Sheila Dohoo Faure)

Review and  Augment Links to External Websites

There is a page with Links to Online Resources on the BIFHSGO website. This list was updated 2-5 years ago but, although it is fairly current, it needs regular monitoring and/or updating. There are number of tasks:

• Checking all the links on the page to identify any that are broken or no longer leading to the expected website
• Identifying sites that are no longer active or relevant
• Augment the page by identifying new useful links

Specific tasks:

• Check the online links a couple of times a year
• Keep an eye open for new resources or actively seek new resources
• Notify the webmanager of any changes to the page
• Time required: 1 day twice a year for monitoring the links; plus additional time to identify new resources, as available 

Contact person: Webmanager (Sheila Dohoo Faure)

Canadian Casualty Clearing Station—soldier biographies

Project details

BIFHSGO volunteers transcribed names of 879 WW I soldiers who died at No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station in select periods between February 1916 and January 1919, taken from journals kept by the chaplains who served there. BIFHSGO volunteers are now researching and writing biographies for all soldiers. Information from the chaplains’ records was supplemented with other publicly available information. If you would like more information on the project, goto the Name Search page of this website.

Biographies have been completed for about ¾ of the soldiers, but we are looking for volunteers to work with others to write biographies for the remaining soldiers. If you like research and writing, this is the opportunity for you. You would be supported by a team that has already worked on many bios and developed tools, including standard formats and approaches for citing sources. We are also supported by an editor who reviews all completed bios.

Specific tasks

• Become familiar with the existing approach to writing biographies and the templates/tools available
• Using publicly available websites, search for information about the soldier and his family (including siblings, particularly if siblings also served in WWI), the movements of his military unit and the context of No. 1 CCCS
• Write the story of his life and death
• Submit the story for editing and address any resulting feedback
• Submit the story for posting on the BIFHSGO website
• Time required: hours as you have available, working alone with the support of other biographers until the project is complete

Project coordinator: Sheila Dohoo Faure

Social Media Coordinator

The primary purpose of this position is to create media content for all BIFHSGO social media platforms and monitor relevant accounts of other genealogy individuals/organizations.

Specific tasks include:

• developing and posting appropriate content for BIFHSGO’s social media accounts
• engaging in brand building and awareness to connect BIFHSGO membership
• connecting social media marketing efforts to its website content and its educational/promotional events;
• creating text, image and video content that educates and builds awareness of the Society, its goals and activities;
• responding to questions, comments and posts coming through the social media
• looking for relevant content from the individuals/organizations we follow to share with members

Time Required: 4–6 hours/month

Training available

Coordinator: President (Dianne Brydon)